High School DxD: Delinquency of the Two Kings
by Neo Lucilfer
Summary: Not all heroes have the grandest of beginnings, and the heroes of this story are no exception. Alexander Volt and Neo Kanbaru are your typical troublemaking delinquent duo, but one day all that changes as the two unknowingly make contact with a Crimson Beauty.
1. Prologue

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BE-!**

**"****UGH!"**

A young teen groaned as he pressed the snooze button on the alarm of his phone, scratching his head in irritation.

He was 17 years old, with short crimson-red hair that grew past his ears. He was noticeably in good shape with a slightly muscular build, but not over the top. His legs slide over the edge of the bed as he gradually came to his feet.

Groaning as a beam of sunlight struck him, blinding his sharp golden eyes with its powerful morning rays.

"Fuck I hate school." he complained irritably.

He let out a heavy sigh stretching before thinking to himself 'Well, I might as well get it over with.' Resigning himself to go, the teen headed to his bathroom hoping an early morning shower would energize him for the day.

Walking out of his bathroom, feeling more revitalized from his morning shower. He bore the uniform of the prestigious institution known as Kuho Academy which he attended. The outfit consisted of a black blazer opened up to reveal a white dress shirt, the top two buttons were undone showing a slight bit of his chest, accompanied by black pants and brown dress shoes completing his outfit with a pair of black headphones.

Although one could not begin the morning without the most important, most essential part of the day:

Breakfast.

Walking into the kitchen he put on his apron and got to work, and in twelve minutes he created a plate composed of crisp bacon, sunny side up eggs, and two pieces of buttered toast.

"Thanks for the food!" And in less than half the time it took the boy to create the meal he devoured it like a vacuum consuming dust.

Finishing his meal, the boy walked out his apartment locking the door behind him as he left.

* * *

The boy sighed as he walked through the school gates bearing a deadpan expression trying not to stand out from the rest of the students flooding into the building. His attempts were in vain however as he noticed multiple students distance themselves from him while staring and whispering who knows what.

At this point, he was used to it, after all, red hair, tan skin, and gold eyes aren't commonly seen in the everyday Japanese male, well that and, do to reasons beyond his control, he had become rather infamous in certain parts of the town much to his dismay.

As he continued walking, now wishing he had just stayed home a booming voice called out his name which earned the gaze of him and most of the other students in the courtyard "NEO YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

As the boy known as Neo turned towards the obnoxious voice shouting his name to find his best friend running towards him with an angry look on his face.

"Oh, sup Alex." Neo said waving calmly at the blonde haired teen.

"DON'T SUP ALEX ME YOU BITCH!" The boy known as Alex roared as he finally caught up to Neo painting heavily as he hunched over to recover his breath.

Alex was 17 years old with white skin, wavy blonde hair reaching down to his shoulders and blue eyes. Like Neo Alex also attended Kuho Academy noticeable by the male uniform.

"Why the hell didn't you come to get me asshole!?" Alex roared with bloodshot eyes. He was tired because he had to run to school to not be late because he happened to oversleep.

"Last I checked I'm not your mother, Alex." Neo said annoyed as they resumed their walk further into the school building.

"Your right, your just an asshole." Alex replied venomously.

"I know right."

"Sometimes I really hate you-you know that?"

"Your not the first and you ain't gonna be the last." Neo said gaining a smile from from Alex before the two went into idle chatter about the start of the day, a basic routine.

The two boys walked through the halls finally reaching the 2nd year corridor. "So see ya at lunch?" Alex asked?

"I'll be at the usual." Neo retorted.

"Well, bones." Alex said extending his fist.

"Bones." Neo extended his fist as well as the two performed a fist bump. The two parted ways to got to their respective classrooms, Neo's happened to be 2-A while Alex 2-B.

As Neo entered his classroom, his least favorite place in the world, and took up his seat by the far left of the class closest to the window as he took his seat he knew this day like all other days was going to be… boring as fuck.

* * *

Neo was elated to hear the bell sounding the end of his class, he hated chemistry and was glad to be on lunch break.

He strolled out of the classroom and began heading out towards the courtyard where he and Alex usually hung out at during lunch.

As he was walking, he took note of all the annoying stares and comments his fellow peers made about him.

"It's him…!"

"Wait you sure!?"

"No mistaking that red hair and those beastly eyes."

"It's that delinquent Neo!"

"Watch out I hear he's strong."

"How the hell does a guy like him get in a prestigious school like this."

"He belongs in prison."

"But I heard he plays with stray cats and dogs on the street."

"Bet he kills them for fun later!"

"He holds doors open for women."

"He's a punk that beats up other students."

"A perv who rapes girls in back alleys."

"He never does work in any of his classes."

"He even talks back to teachers and upperclassmen."

'Ok yeah fuck this shit.' He thought as he put on the headphones strapped around his neck hoping to drown out the stupid chatter of the brain dead student body.

In a few minutes, Neo arrived at his destination, the school courtyard. Looking around one could notice several cliques of students chatting and eating together outside.

Neo moved past them as he ascended the grassy hill that lied under the track field that in circled the tennis courts.

As he reached the desired spot in question, he took from his bag a white sheet and laid it out on the grass. Resting himself on the smooth silk in tandem with the soft grass was at that moment heaven.

"Sigh, whats up Neo." Hearing a familiar voice Neo turned to his right to greet it only for his peaceful mood to turn into irritation.

Standing before him was Alex with an exhausted expression. Behind him stood the Perverted Duo Motohama and Murayama.

'Ugh! Why in the fuck did he bring these two horn dogs?' Neo made a mental groan as he looked at the two teens with reputations as horrible as his own.

"Hey man why you gotta give us the stink eye!" said Matsuda, a shaven-headed boy shouted at the red-haired teen leering at them.

"Yeah man we haven't done shit to you, so I feel we deserve a little respect!" joined in the black-haired glasses wearing youth known as Motohama.

"Ha. That's a fucking riot coming from you two!" Neo stood up all the while a vain began bulging up on his forehead. "With what you sons of bitches got me involved in shooting nasty looks is the least I should be doing!" Neo said raising his voice as he approached the two boys who began to shrink in fear but stood firm.

"How dare you say that after we so generously extended one of are peep spots to you" Matsuda gathering a bit more courage shouted.

"And we ended up getting chased after with fucking swords you retard!" Neo retaliated furiously as the event replayed in his mind. Alex had introduced Neo to the boys a few months ago.

At the time Neo had not heard the rumors about the two perverted boys, seeing as he never bothered associating with any of his fellow classmates.

He would come to regret that decision as he soon found out that Motohama and Murayama's invitation to hang out turned out to be one of their infamous peeping adventures.

Neo had just enough time to grab Alex and bolt leaving the two perverted boys to their beating at the hands of the kendo club.

After that Neo developed bad terms with Matsuda and Murayama, the former finding the two and their perverted acts as disgusting filth. And the latter seeing Neo as a traitor to their unpopular brotherhood.

This is why Neo found it bizarre that they would be approaching him now and why they would use Alex to approach him. But even more so, why did Alex bring them?

Motohama steeled himself making sure to choose his next words carefully "Listen Neo-san, in the past, we've had some bad experiences together, however as a fellow member of the unpopular male student body we think it's time to bury the hatchet."

Neo simply stared at the two blankly not buying their bullshit in the slightest. First, it was a few seconds then a minute then two until five minutes passed by of him giving them what seemed like the longest stare down of the century. The awkward moment finally relented when Neo without a word pulled Alex to speak privately.

"Ok spill, the fuck is this?" Neo cut to the chase crossing his arms in wait for Alex's response.

Alex let out another sigh reading his response. "They plan on peaking at the girl's kendo club, again and well" Alex chose his next words carefully. "They want to bring you along as insurance."

Neo face was unchanged he expected this was the case, so he moved on to his next questions "Insurance for what exactly."

"If they end up getting caught peeking which we both know they will." Alex pointed at Neo "They want you to step in a save their asses" Alex finished. At this point, Neo became genuinely confused "Wait they want me to save them from those beatings? I always thought they got off from them seeing as they never try to fucking stop them."

"Nah their just pussies kinda like me except I actually know how to run from danger, they don't got the luck."

"Or how to dump it on someone else' Neo rumbled as he recalled all the times Alex had gotten them into some shit and how he had to save both their behinds then.

"And why the fuck would I ever help them or do you not remember that me and those tards don't really mix. And besides I'm not gonna beat up some random chicks for beating up borderline criminals" Neo scowled crossing his arms.

"I know but hear me out" Alex moved closer ensuring no one could hear them."I have a friend that's part of the Kendo club when we get to the spot I'll text her and shell round up a bunch of the girls. Those two will be too engrossed to notice use giving them the slip, and they'll get a beat down" Alex finished smirking at his plan.

Neo thought about the blonde teen's plan, it seemed stable enough and coming from Alex that was rare, but Neo was still curious about one thing. "Alright but aren't these guys your friends why are you so eager to fuck them over?"

Shooting his friend a charming smile Alex responded "Cause karma's a bitch, my friend."

Neo chuckled at his friends brazen display of sadism as he made up his mind. "Hehe, ain't that the truth. Well I wasn't doing shit anyways so let's go terrorize some pervs." Neo walked up to the perverted Duo informing them of his agreement much to their ignorant pleasure of what was to come.

"Fuck yeah! This is gonna be fucking lit!" Alex snickers as he followed behind pulling out his cell to shoot a text at his friend in the kendo club thus putting in motion his revenge.

* * *

"YOU BASTARDS!" the two perverted boys screamed at the laughing teen's tears flowing from their eyes in rage. After being hit by a brutal flurry of strikes from the Kendo club, the two had somehow managed to escape, taking refuge near the entrance of the old school building where they had happened to run into Alex and Neo laughing maniacally at their traumatic experience.

"Hey, man before you say anything just know it was his idea." Neo pointed an accusing finger at Alex as he wiped tears from his eyes.

That prompted Motohama and Murayama to stare daggers at their former comrade to no avail. "What? I said I would get your asses back a hundred times over for that incident two months ago didn't I." Alex taunted them further by making a puzzled face as if to show he thought his actions were entirely justified.

Seeing their fight with Alex as an unwinnable one, they turned their anger towards a different target. "AND YOU!" Motohama adjusted his glasses pointing at Neo. "What was your part in this little plan huh?"

"Who me? Nothing much I was just supposed to agree to your dumbass request, drift with Alex and sit back and watch you two get your asses handed to you. Which was hilarious by the way." Motohama bit his lip, he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with either of them left defeated and frustrated Motohama fell to his knees crying bitter tears much to Neo's rising amusement.

"Aw, what's the matter, I mean you at least got to see a little bit right? Right?" Neo words only helped twist the knife into Motohama's wound before Matsuda also fell to his knees in despair.

"NO GOD DAMMIT WE DIDN'T SEE SHIT!" He began crying a river of tears. "BY THE TIME WE WENT TO PEEK ALL THE GIRLS HAD CLEARED OUT, WE GOT ARE ASSES BEAT FOR NOTHIN MAN!"

"Just one" the attention was then put on Motohama muttering to himself in his own fit of despair "I just wanted one glimpse of Moriyama's beautiful 36-22-34 body."

At this point, Neo had gotten his fill of human suffering and grown bored of the two he turned to Alex to ask what he wanted to do with the two before he noticed something strange.

Alex's attention had been on the Old School Building which unless he was in admiring the building for its creep factor. It was a three-story building painted white with a black roof, and an array of wood framed windows covered the first and second floors. Vines creep up to the second story of the building implying that it was not properly cared for the last story of the building seemed to serve as a clock tower.

While interesting if you were a horror fanatic or architecture nut but for the average person, especially if that person is Alex, Neo traced his gaze up the old building to a window on the second floor, and that was when he saw her.

The first thought that came to his mind was: Beautiful. The girl staring out the window fit that description perfectly, porcelain white skin with not a single blemish or imperfection, gorgeous crimson hair, redder than Neo's own hair as if it were blood, loose bangs covering her forehead and a single prominent ahoge stuck out from the top of her head. Two sapphire blue orbs starred off in the distance as if looking beyond the small school ground that he stood on.

But what drew Neo's attention the most no wholly captured it was: Her humongous breasts! He knew only one person who possessed such a bountiful chest, and she was a grown woman, not a damn teenager. The more he looked at them, the more his thoughts jumbled in his head.

"HOLY FUCK THEIR HUGE!"

"Is her spine ok?"

"Oh my god girls are getting silicone implants at this age."

"Ugh of course they are"

"But what if they are natural?"

"Na there's no wa-WAIT NEO SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!"

Dammit! He was caught, caught by those hypnotizing tities, Hypno tities… TITY HYPNOSIS! He turned to Alex now realizing the source of his captivation he planted both hands on his shoulders "Alex" he shook him gently seeing it have no effect he began shaking him violently "Alex!" there was still no response.

"Haahh" he sighed the titty hypnosis was strong with this one, he was left with no choice. He slowly extended his hand towards Alex's blonde hair right when his hand was an inch away from touching one of his golden strands.

FWOOSH

Like a viper Alex reflexively swiped his hand smacking away Neo's hand "Don't touch the hair! Alex looked at his surroundings as if he awakened from a daze. "I was, we were, where did the boobs go?" He looked frantically like a lost child.

"She's gone now dumbass" Neo pointed to the window seal on the second floor Alex was saddened to find that the girl was indeed gone. "You cool now?" Neo asked his friend making sure he was ok. "Yeah I'm cool just caught off guard by my weakness." Alex rubbed his neck a grin spread across on his face.

"Anyways it's time to leave you… Oh my god!" Neo was about to leave before he turned around only to find Motohama and Murayama drooling, literally drooling as they seemed to be under the same titty hypnotized state as Alex had been. This time Neo was not as patient deciding it was best to make haste the red-haired teen landed a solid kick in both the boy's faces.

After a minute of writhing in pain and cursing the boys recovered to their usual selves. "AY MAN WHAT THE FUCK! THAT SHIT HURTS YOU KNOW!"

"YEAH TRY AND SHOW A LITTLE RESTRAINT YOU GOD DAMN OAF!"

Neo took no offense to their comments simple continuing down the forest path "Whatever hurry the fuck up or we're all gonna be late! My last period teacher has a stick up his ass, and if I'm late again, he said he was gonna give me 3-hour detention that shits not gonna happen so move your ass!" and so the four began their trip back to the new school building.

However, there was one thing still on Alex's mind. He turned back to the old building looking back at the window, though the girl was now gone it was like he could still see her there. He tapped Motohama drawing his attention. "Yo by the way Motohama do you have any idea who that girl was."

In excitement, Motohama flicked his glasses upward in a dramatic fashion as he prepared his monologue. "Her name is Rias Gremory 39-23-35 she's a third year and president of the occult research club. Rumor has it she's also from northern Europe which would describe the red hair."

'So she's a foreigner huh nice. Maybe we could get along then since we're both not from here hehe.' Alex thought jokingly before his own rational brought him back down to Earth. "Yeah right a girl like that is way outta my league, ow well," Alex said these words out loud to no one in particular.

"Huh, you say something?" Motohama questions his friend before Alex put his arm around him. "Nothin bro now let's hurry up before a certain redhead gets back on his period.

And so he left the old building putting aside his encounter like a distant memory little did he know that from the same window sill a familiar pair of blue eyes were fixated on him.

* * *

"Ugh, that dude really needs to get laid." Neo said rolling his eyes as he walked with Alex down the corridor of the school a fierce scowl on his face. No student dared to meet his gaze in fear that he would attack them or worse, well except for one.

"Ahahahaha so in the end, sensei gave you detention anyways." Alex was gripping his sides as he recalled Neo's telling of the event unable to contain his laughter.

"Ay fuck you man, it's your fault I got this detention in the first place!" Neo pointed the accusing finger at his friend. "Man fuck it I'm not going he can go suck a dick."

"So you walking home with me?"

"Na I gotta go to the shopping district and pick up some stuff for dinner."

"You know you can come over to my place for dinner right?" Alex said with a welcoming smile. "My dad wouldn't mind, and you eat for a whole family so we'd be glad not to have leftovers for once."

"Hmm" Neo held his chin in deep thought about his friends offer. "Yeah I'm cool, I wouldn't want to impose on your dad, thanks for the offer though" Neo smiled back at his friend.

"But your fine imposing on me huh?"

"Yeah pretty much."

As they reached outside the gate of the school building each of them preparing to go there separate ways they faced each other preparing to do their standard ritual. "Welp imma get going bones." Alex said being the first to extend his fist, Neo did the same, and the two performed a fist bump.

"Bones." Neo said back as he turned around and started walking to the shopping district. Alex began his trip home. The walk wasn't too strenuous, only taking about ten minutes to reach his destination, fifteen if he was being slow.

Along the way he came across the footbridge he and Neo often took on their way home together. Being that he was alone today, he decided to lean on the railing of the bridge taking in the scenery as his thoughts flooded his mind.

He didn't know why but the only thing he could think about was Rias. He tried to shake them off, but the more he tried, the more his mind always draw back to her.

Alex didn't like this feeling. It was foreign to him, for him to get so fixated on someone like this. Sure there were exceptions to this like Neo, but this was a girl who until today he didn't even know existed, needless to say, he hated it.

He looked at the setting sun in a dazed before reaching a resolution within himself.

***SLAP SLAP***

He slapped his checks twice as he as he got a grip on himself. "Alright, Alex snap out of it. It's just some random girl you'll probably forget her face in a few days." Alex began walking down the other side of the of the footbridge with a relieved smile.

"Um excuse me." A voice called out behind him. Alex paused checking his frontal surroundings for any nearby people. There was no one. He only heard one step of footsteps, so he came to the conclusion the voice was calling to him.

Alex turned around slowly, and for the second time today he felt as if the wind was knocked out of him. It was a girl around his age with long silky black hair and a slender buxom body. He didn't recognize the red uniform she wore, but that wasn't important, what was, were her massive jumbalias!

'DAMMMMMMMM THOSE ARE SOME BIG ASS BOOBS!' Alex couldn't help but stare at the bountiful funbags before him. While they may not have been as voluptuous as Rias', they certainly were nothing to shine away from.

"Um yes, do you need something?" Alex rubbed the back of his neck nervously mustering all his willpower to look away from the girl's bountiful cleavage.

"Your Alexander Volt from Kuho Academy right?" The girl spoke in a serine and cute tone which could make any man's heart skip a beat. Though she hung her head and her bangs shielded Alex's eyes from seeing the girls face he could only imagine the beauty that laid underneath.

There was a pause before Alex thought to respond his attention captivated by the girls massive bosom "Uh yeah do you need something?"

The girl seemed to take a pause as if she was thinking about her next choice of words. He could see her cheeks begin to turn a deeper shade of pink and Alex couldn't help but be taken in by her cuteness. "Well, I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Are you seeing anyone right now?"

"Um, no not at the moment" Alex raised his brow confused as to why a girl would ask him something like that out of the blue. "That's wonderful." The girl responded only adding to Alex's confusion.

"Wh-what?" Alex asked the girl.

"Well, in that case, since your single would you like to go out with me?" it was these words that made Alex whole body visible shake.

'Wait. WHAT!' The blonde haired teen mentally shouted. 'What the fuck is up with this girl, who comes up and asks a guy if they wanna go out, is this a prank, maybe she's just fucking with me, and I'm being recorded. I can't just make a fool out of myself. I'll play it cool.'

"Well I'm flattered but well like, I don't really know you well enough to go on a date with you," Alex said awkwardly. He had never been in the position of having to turn down a girl before, but even for an idiot like him, a girl he's never seen before coming up and asking him out is way out there.

"I know it's a little weird but, you see, I've been watching and you happen to come by here a lot, and I don't know you just seem really charismatic and also very charming."

At that moment the girl lifted her head revealing her face, and Alex was captivated by her beautiful eyes. They were a lovely shade of violet, not like any violet he had ever seen. They were a deep, liquid, and smooth look almost metallic.

'Holy shit she's serious about this' Alex couldn't believe the girl in front of him. She was a complete stranger asking him out and yet, for some reason he felt his will to refuse slowly slipping away.

"So the thing is" the girl paused as she seemed to gather her convictions. "I'd like for you to be my boyfriend."

And so that's how Alex began going out with the mysterious girl Yuuma Amano.

* * *

"Let's see tonight's gonna be baked tonkatsu, so I'll need some cup panko, pork loin, and tonkatsu sauce. I think I can get it from the grocery store down the street." Neo said to himself listing off ingredients for his dinner off his smartphone. He was walking to the grocery store he frequently visited, mainly because of its wide selection of products, reasonable prices, and frequent sales and deals.

While these made the store very convenient, it had a few… problems. For starters, the store was located in a bit of a shabby part of town. It wasn't particularly deranged or lawless, it was just known to have a few gangs around which from time to time caused trouble around the area, trouble which Neo always found himself getting stuck in the middle of.

It wasn't that he looked for trouble, but be it his horribly bad luck, or some supernatural power he never knew he had, trouble seemed to always end up finding him.

"What you say to me bitch!?" As Neo neared the convenience store, a rough voice erupted from the alleyway that lied a few feet from the store.

"What are you as deaf as you are stupid!? I said there's no way in hell I'd ever do anything with any of your ugly asses so piss off!" From that same ally another voice sprung out, it sounded like girls. A very pissed off girl at that.

He hadn't heard much, but from the brief words he heard exchanged he was able to deduce the situation. "Wow, sexual assault in broad daylight. God this place really is going to shit."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the situation, which seemed like something straight out some light novel. All it needed now was some brave hero to come in and save the damsel in distress from the crude thugs and live happily ever after. Too bad that never happens in real life.

Neo nonchalantly began passing the alleyway unconcerned with what was happening. It wasn't his problem after all, what did he gain from helping out some random girl. He was perfectly fine with abandoning the girl to her fate but unfortunately...

"Holy shit is that him?" Standing at the front of the ally stood two thuggish looking boys. Both of them wore hoodies, the thug on the left was wearing white and was currently speaking to the black-hooded thug.

"Oh shit it is hold up I'll get the guys!" Black hoodie responded before beginning to run off, but then he was suddenly stopped.

"Don't bother, it's not like I could run now anyway." Neo had come behind them and placed a firm hand on black hoodie's shoulder the latter beginning to shiver in fear simply form the former making contact.

Fate had a different plan in mind for Neo today.

* * *

Neo was led into the alleyway by the two thugs one in back the other in front sealing off any attempt to escape, not that he'd ever need to take it.

"Yo boss we got something good for you!" Black Hoodie shouted.

"Huh? Didn't I tell you two you'd get a turn when we were done what the fuck do you-" As the thug known as "Boss" seemed like he was about to chew out his underlings, paused staring directly at the red-haired teen who stared back with a deadpan expression.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Red Devil of Kuho, Neo Kanbaru!"

Before Neo stood "Boss" a shady-looking youth with a shaved head smiling at him with crooked teeth. He wore a dark blue tank top with black jeans around his neck was a silver chain which looked about as real as one the ones sold at pizza parlors.

Neo looked around the ally to better grasp his current situation. He saw a petite blonde girl with an agitated expression on her face leading him to assume she was the pissed off voice he heard from earlier. And around her were about a dozen other shady looking youths all with different as they saw him, ones of fear, others of anger the list goes on.

Suddenly "Boss" blocked his view as he got in the red-haired teens face in what Neo could only guess was some weird attempt to recapture his attention.

"We were just about to have some fun with our lady friend here, but since your here" "Boss" punched his open left hand, grinning with his crooked teeth. "I think I'll enjoy my dinner before we get to our dessert ya dig."

Neo let out a deep sigh before reexamining the area. "Dude are you really tryna start this shit now, I have better shit do than to deal with some street thug wannabes. Ya dig." Neo said mockingly as his last words came out extremely harsh. Looking at "Boss" Neo could tell he had hit a nerve.

"THAT'S IT IMA SLIDE A BITCH!" clutching his fist "Boss" swung a powerful hard right at Neo but it was far too wide and slow making it easy for Neo to avoid the strike causing "Boss" to stumble forward a bit.

After recovering "Boss" swung at Neo with a left, which the red-haired teen sidestepped getting inside of the delinquent's range. Once inside Neo's hands lashed forward like vipers, his left taking "Boss's" wrist and the right grabbing his upper arm. Turning his back, the red-haired teen hoisted the larger delinquent over his shoulder planting him on the ground.

***THUD***

"GAAAHH!"

With a loud thud, the delinquent hit the ground hard letting out a small cry of pain as he fell. "Boss" groaned in pain before he felt the sensation of a knee touch his shoulder. As he opened his eyes to see what it was.

***BAM***

"AAAUGH!"

Neo's fist smashed into "Boss's" face, his head ricocheting off the fist and banging against the concrete, knocking him out cold.

Removing his knee from the leader's shoulder, Neo stood up heaving a sigh of disappointment before he turned to the rest of the delinquent youths present in the ally. "Who's next." He said not hiding his lack of enthusiasm.

"Well kill you bitch!"

"Fuck him up!"

"Break his fuckin legs!"

The red-haired boy only rolled his eyes at these comments. "God even your lines are basic as hell," Neo smirked as he ducked, deflected, and blocked a series of crowbars, baseball bats, bricks, and limbs. Eventually, Neo found himself surrounded as seven delinquents rushed him in an attempt to dog pile onto him.

This proved no issue for him as he took advantage of their frenzied and ill-made formation as he blitz towards the thug closest to him. The thug was noticeably caught off guard, not expecting the sudden rush which left an opening as Neo delivered an uppercut to the thug's chin lifting him several feet in the air before he landed with a loud crash.

Seeing the monstrous feat in strength the other thugs halted in their attack, but Neo took no delay as he rushed into the confused group delivering an intense flurry of punches to the groups downing the six thugs in one swift motion. "God I can't believe I have to waste time with you weak ass gangster-wannabes. How any of you flaccid cherry boys thought you could gang bang a girl is beyond me."

That had apparently been the last straw as a wooden bat slammed into the back of the boy's skull causing his whole body to jerk. It seemed that one of the delinquent Neo punched through either sheer will, determination, or hatred managed to stand and land a successful hit on him. As he removed the bat from the boy's skull, he noticed a spot of blood covering its smooth surface.

"I'll admit, that was on me I never thought one of you fuckers would be able to get up after one of my punches but…," He straightened his slouched demeanor before turning to the delinquent that struck him. The thug froze as he looked at the red-haired teens face, he didn't know if it was because of the blood that ran down his face, his stoic expression or the wrath behind his golden eyes fixated on him like those of a beast out for blood. But he suddenly realized the man that stood before him was the Red Devil of Kuho, the delinquent king and for a good reason.

"Your really gonna regret pissing me off." Neo blitzed to his assaulter in leaving him no time to react as he leaped grasping the thugs head Neo drove it into his knee. Neo released him, and the delinquent toppled over blood spewing from his broken nose as he hit the ground with a loud thud knocked out cold from the brutal blow.

Neo's gaze lingered on the downed thug as if checking to see if he was indeed out cold before looking up at the remaining youths. "Any more of you fuckers wanna try me?" Neo said as he cracked his pointer finger on his right hand with his thumb.

"I wouldn't mind taking a few stabs at it!"

From behind him, the white-hoodie brought out a switchblade rushing at Neo with the knife. Turning to face the boy Neo sidestepped the attack as well as the flurry of slashes that followed it. Neo caught the white hoodies wrist clutching it so hard dropped his knife Neo delivered a powerful kick to the white hoodies chest sending him flying into the alley dumpster.

Neo scowled as he noticed the growing killing intent being directed at him. He'd come to the realization that he wasn't leaving this ally until he crushed every pest here, much to his dismay, so he moved to the less violent option of attempting to make peace. "Guys look I was only trying to buy my dinner and-"

However, his words didn't reach them as they were drowned out by the defining warcry that echoed in the alley.

[DIIIIEEEE!]

'Why do I even bother.' This thought ran through Neo's mind as he purposely got into a sloppy fighting stance which reflected the weakness of the attacking delinquents.

* * *

"Well, now that that shits over and done with" Neo stretched as the bodies of the delinquents surrounded him, the only indication they were alive being the groans of pain and a few sloshy gurgle sounds.

"Now where is he again. Ah! There he is." Neo made his way over to "Boss" unconcerned with the fact he was tramping over several bodies to do so. Neo grabbed the man by his neck, dragging him up to meet the red-haired teen's furious gaze.

"You're not very bright, are you shitstain?" Not daring to speak "Boss" shook his head as he could feel his airway slowly closing off.

"Yeah I thought so," Neo said, nodding his head. "Because you have to be pretty fucking stupid to try molesting or better yet raping a girl in broad daylight who clearly finds you repulsive, but then you've got the balls to try and drag me into your load of bullshit not bright at all am I right."

He nodded his head vigorously as he struggled to breath.

"So let me make this shit perfectly fucking clear so even a moron like you could understand," Neo said, as his voice became cold and filled with murderous intent. "I better not see you or your fucking crew around here ever again. And if I catch word you've been fucking with that girl, her friends, or family; I will break you. Do. You. Understand!?"

"Y-ye-yess-i-r!" the leader managed to squeeze out, face turning blue from the lack of oxygen. On that note Neo release him, and he fell to the ground desperately gasping for air.

"Get the fuck out of my face."

Needing no further instruction the hastily made their escape tripping, limping, and crawling over one another to do so.

Neo began to exit the alley before he felt a presence run toward him. Thinking it was another sneak attack he prepared to flatten the fool crazy enough to come after him, what he did not expect was to be embraced by a petite blonde girl.

'Wait what the fuck, who's this random fucking girl' Neo's mind raced as he made a sudden realization. 'Wait no this is the girl those dipshits were hitting on. Why is she still here? And more importantly why the fuck is she hugging me!?' It took a minute for Neo to realize the girl was speaking to him.

"Dude you were like totally badass back there!" The blonde said as she showed her face to Neo her blue orbs staring directly into his gold ones. "Ok first order of business is this needs to stop." Neo pried the girl off his body taking a few steps back before getting a better look at this girl.

She was a reasonably cute girl, with blue eyes and blonde hair styled into twin tails accompanied by a black bow atop her head. What was most notable however was her Gothic Lolita clothes, which consisted of a black Lolita dress adorned with white frills, a black bow on its front, and a green jewel embedded in its collar. She had on thigh-high socks and a pair of black shoes.

Regaining his composure, Neo pushed aside his thoughts on the girl's appearance shoving his hands into his pockets and said. "Look, little girl, I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but it's pretty fucking stupid to run up to random strangers and start hugging them." As Neo lectured on, he noticed the girl seemed annoyed.

"Um excuse you, but I'm no little girl. I happen to be 16 thank you very much." The girl corrected him as she crossed her arms.

"Right. Anywho I got shit to do so ima bounce try not to nearly get raped again, Blonde Lolita." Neo left the alley continuing on his to his original destination the store. Or he was but until...

"Wait!" Suddenly the Blonde Lolita slammed herself into Neo's back hugging his waist tightly and refusing to let go.

"Agh! Again with this fucking hugging! Bitch what do you want from me?!" Neo shouted back at the girl who was still latched onto his waist.

The girl looked up at the annoyed red-haired teen, a small blush tinting her cheeks as she spoke "I'm sorry to ask this, but I'm kinda lost. Can you please take me home?"

Neo, rendered speechless at what was just asked of him gave the best reply he was capable of forming at the time "Say what?"

And so through a series of tight hugs, pleading, and defining crying Neo reluctantly decided the help the blonde Lolita find her "house".

* * *

Neo and the Blonde Lolita whose name she stated as Mittelt, walked together down the street both carrying grocery bags full of ingredients. Neo insisted that since he was wasting his time to do her, this favor Mittelt should make herself useful by doing at least this much.

"So how's your head feeling?" Mittelt asked as she looked at the bandages Neo had gotten from the store to tend to the wound he received from his fight.

"Fine." Neo replied without looking at the girl.

The two carried on with these short exchanges for quite a while. Mittelt would try to make conversation and Neo, clearly annoyed by the girl, gave short replies before returning to his silence.

"You know you not much of a talker," Mittelt said with a pout. "It's kinda annoying when I'm the only one talking."

Neo rolled his eyes before looking at the girl for what felt like the first time all night before saying "Well let's see what's there to talk about." Neo held his chin as if contemplating something before beginning his rant. "I could talk about how I just wanted to buy some ingredients for my dinner tonight and how that plan was sidetracked by a group of trashy delinquents dragging me into an ally, making me beat the shit out of said delinquents. Having one of the said delinquents nearly cracking my fucking skull open! And to round it off now I'm helping you find YOUR house!"

Mittelt looked at him and then said bluntly "Wow your a real dick, you'll never get a girlfriend acting like that you know."

"GAH!" Neo gripped his chest as the words pierced his heart before attempting to regain his composure. "Whatever anyways weren't we supposed to to be looking for your house. You said it was around here see anything familiar" Neo looked at the Mittelt as the girl looked around.

"Umm lets see… Oh, there it is!" Mittelt pointed at a structure in the distance which happens to be a church. It was an old structure that rested on a hill, distinguishing it from the rest of the town. As far as Neo could remember, the church had been shut down, so he found himself confused why this girl claimed it was her home but set them aside thinking it could have just recently reopened.

He stopped walking when he noticed his companion had stopped and seemed to just look at him with a puzzled expression. "What's the hold-up?" Neo looked at the girl.

"Um, why are you still walking with me?" Mittelt said in a confused tone.

This prompted Neo to raise his brow before he saying "I was planning to walk you the way there, is there a problem with that."

Mittelt found herself taken aback by this unable to speak for several seconds. She hung her head a quiet voice said "But I caused you a lot of trouble and, you even got hurt so…" but before she could finish Neo interjected.

"So that's exactly why I'm walking you home." Mittelt raised her head surprised by these words. "I went through all that trouble saving your ass I'm not gonna let something happen to it again."

Hearing this Mittelt laughed to Neo's confusion. "Sorry sorry its just I didn't know you cared so much, it's actually a little cute." Mittelt said in a teasing manner.

"Well fuck you too. For the record I don't care, I just don't like wasting my time." Neo spat crossing his arms only making the girl giggle.

"Whatever you say tsundere." Before Neo could reply Mittelt walked over handing him the grocery bag which he took. "Thanks for all your help but ill be fine from here." Mittelt then began running up the hill to the church.

But before she was out of view she turned around and shouted to him. "Try not to get any more banged up tonight Red Devil-kun." This prompting Neo to respond by flipping her the bird as she disappeared from his sight.

Neo now left alone turned around and began walking back to his apartment before a sharp pain assaulted his head where he received his injury.

"Ack! Man, this fucking hurts!" He looked at the grocery bags in his hands sighing deeply as this thought 'I went through all this fucking trouble to get these and now, I'm too worn out to even cook.' He sighed again heavily. 'Guess I'll just save it for tomorrow and sleep.'

Unbeknownst to Neo, a man in a grey trench coat stood atop one of the surrounding building. Having witnessed the interaction between the two teens the man made a foreboding smirk.

Touching his chin he looked towards the church which Mittelt headed towards and said "How interesting." Finishing his sentence the man sprouted a pair of black bird like wings before taking flight towards the church.

* * *

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BE-!**

***YAWN!***

Stopping the alarm on his phone, a weary Alex rises from his bed stretching with a loud yawn.

Immediately he checked his phone for any messages or updates that might have come while he was asleep. He after a few minutes of scrolling he found a text sent a few hours ago from Neo which read "Got hit in the head from a fight yesterday and now I've got a huge headache so I'm staying home try not to get lonely without me."

Alex was upset at this because it meant he wouldn't be able to show off his girlfriend to him.

'Well, I guess I can tell him some other time besides, he's not the only one whose reaction I want to see.' Alex's mind immediately went to the perverted duo Matsuda and Murayama as he prepared for school. Alex was leaving a bit earlier than he usually does because today he was going to be walking to school with Yuuma Amano, the girl he started dating yesterday.

"Hehehe this is gonna gooooood" Alex couldn't help but snicker in wait of the reactions to come.

"NO PLEASE GOD"

"I-IMPOSSIBLE"

Coming from a shocked Matsuda and Murayama, their faces were contorted in horror as they failed to process what was before them.

It was Alex walking shoulder to shoulder with a beautiful black-haired girl wearing a red school uniform who was to be Alex's girlfriend, Yuuma Amano.

"Yuuma these are two of my pals Matsuda and Murayama" Alex introduced Yuuma, who gave a warm smile responding with "It's nice to meet you".

Walking over to them Alex placed a hand on both their shoulders and whispers. "I'll send you pics when I get some." Alex said with a grin before leaving with Yuuma.

"THAT FUCKING TRAITOR!" Murayama shouted in tears clutching his hair while Matsuda sobbed.

* * *

"A date Saturday, yeah I can totally go!" Alex and Yuuma where on the same bridge that they had first met on. Out of the blue Yuuma had asked if they could go out.

"Really! That's great so I'll see you at 6 by the mall ok." Yuuma began walking at the opposite end of the bridge before turning back.

"I really am happy you're my boyfriend." She said sweetly before running off.

"Holy shit this is awesome!" Alex shouted to himself with a triumphant fist in the air.

"This shit can't wait anymore, I gotta tell Neo!" Snapping back to reality Alex begins jogging to Neo's apartment.

Watching him from the crosswalk was a petite white haired girl in the Kuho girls uniform licking a Popsicle with a cryptic look.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, some chick you never seen asks you out, and you said yes, and now you're going on a date two days after getting together?" Neo questioned Alex who sat on his bed.

"Yup." Alex answered honestly.

"Are you fucking stupid? Has that blonde hair of yours finally bleached your brain?" Neo battered Alex with harsh words, but Alex was unfazed.

"Hey man, maybe it'll happen for you too one day you don't gotta be jelly about it." Alex shrugged with a cocky grin.

"Fuck you, do you even have a pic of this girl?" Neo scowled as Alex's words had cut into him even more.

"Of course I do asshole." Alex got out his phone showing his a picture of Yumma who was saved as his wallpaper.

Neo rolled his eyes this before looking at the girl his brow furrowed in confusion.

"What do you think? She's got nice boobs doesn't she?"

"Hey, Alex what school does this girl go too?" Neo asked.

"Huh ow um, I think it's Sakuragi High or something like that." Alex responded.

This caused Neo's expression to become even more severe as he said "Alex there's no Sakuragi High around Kuho Academy."

"What?" Alex questioned.

"You said she goes to Sakuragi High, but there isn't a Sakuragi or any other high school around that area" Neo explained.

Alex just sat in silence as he continued listening to Neo's explanation while a tinge of doubt arose within him.

"Furthermore, I've never seen this school uniform or emblem while walking to school, or from any of the delinquents I've fought in the past." Neo looked at Alex who had a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Well, that doesn't mean anything it's not like you know every school and uniform in the world quit being so paranoid." Alex retorted which made Neo scratch his head in frustration.

"Dude it's obvious something's up with this chick, why the hell did you even agree to go out with her?" Neo stood up crossing his arms as he looked Alex directly in the eyes. "I've known you long enough to know that you would never just cozy up with a stranger big boobs or not?"

To this Alex was left baffled. He searched his brain for the answer but was left with nothing as he asked himself 'Why'd I start dating Yuuma Again?'

"Now that I think about it I was planning on turning her down but…" Just before Neo's words seem to break through to him, something changed with Alex as he stood form the bed with a bitter expression.

"Whatever. You're just jealous." Alex said as he walked into the hallways and began putting on his shoes.

"The fuck are you talking about!?" Neo shouted in as he chased after Alex whilst the latter faced him in his doorway and said "I come here thinking you'd be happy for me but instead you make my girlfriend sound like some sort of psycho, some bro you are" Alex huffed as he turned around to leave.

"You gotta be shitting me. You think I'm jealous. Alex read between the lines cause they're not adding up." Neo tried talking sense into his best friend only for it to fall on deaf doors.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll be enjoying mey date with my GIRLFRIEND while you stay here or jerking off or whatever." And on that note, Alex walked out the apartment slamming the door behind him leaving Neo alone in silence. Neo stood their, his bangs covering his face making his expression unrecognizable before suddenly.

***BAM***

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Neo shouted as he slammed his fist on the nearest wall causing a rumble to resound through the old apartment. "I stick my neck out to help that bitch, and that's the thanks I get!" Neo shouted as anger filled his body as the previous conversation ran through his mind again.

It made no sense, it was evident that something was suspicious about Alex's girlfriend, but he didn't seem to see it that way at all. He remembered how Alex had been acting, how he questions his reason for dating this Yuuma girl, but just as it seemed Alex had come around he pulled a total 180.

"AAAGH! YOU KNOW WHAT FUCK IT! " Neo shouted as he scratched his head in anger. "I don't care what happens to that dipshit, he can go get raped, or kidnapped, or fucking murdered for all I care!" Resolute on leaving his friend to whatever fate awaited him, stomped to his room after all the stress he accumulated in the past five minutes he was ready to sleep, or that was the plan until…

***SHATTER***

Halted outside his door, Neo looked into the hall to discover a picture frame had fallen down, likely due to the boy's explosive outburst a moment ago.

Neo immediately rushed over to the picture frame and picked it up to see it was broken with glass all over the floor. "A man there's glass everywhere. God dammit Alex this is all your fault, the next time I see him, I'll knock his fucking teeth in." Neo declared with a clenched fist, but he took a look at the picture in the frame and his attitude softened.

In the picture of a 12-year-old Neo who was blushing as a blonde haired girl around his age locked her arm around his neck pulling his head into her chest while forming a peace sign with her other hand as she grinned mischievously.

Squatting down with the picture frame in hand Neo looked off reminiscently as he reflected on what he just said. "But I guess that wouldn't be the right thing to do would it, Yukino." Neo smiled speaking to no one in particular, as he resolved himself to help his friend.

"But i'm still decking that asshole first chance I get count on that. Ah but first I should probably replace this frame huh." Running to his kitchen Neo racked his brain for a way to save his friend from danger he seemed to be in.

* * *

'Hmm. On second thought, this plan fucking sucks.' Neo thought to himself as he reflected on his horrible planning. He honestly wanted to quit, but seeing as he'd come this far, he decided he might as well stick to it.

Currently, he was sitting in a booth in one of Kuho's local diners. He wore a black blazer with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a plain white t-shirt underneath, black pants and boots, black sunglasses to cover his eyes, and a black beanie to hide his red hair.

Neo took a sip from the drink he ordered while carefully watching the couple three booths down from him. It was Alex and Yuuma who seemed to be having fun on their date. As he watched this Neo felt himself grow more bitter by the second firstly because he had just come to realize that the plan he had thought up to save his friend equated to no more than stalking which just felt wrong to him.

And secondly, Neo couldn't help but feel jealous as he forced himself to watch the blonde-haired teen enjoy his date with his beautiful girlfriend. "Yukino I take back what I said, that bastards getting two punches to the face." As Neo plotted his revenge he noticed the couple get up to leave and so he did the same.

After paying, the two walked out the dinner to continue with their date with Neo following a few steps behind.  
_

Neo had been following the pair around for a couple hours now, and so far nothing had happened. After eating, Alex took Yuuma to his favorite store and they shopped together for a couple minutes before finally leaving. Currently the two were strolling around a park with Neo quietly following behind.

Watching from behind a nearby tree Neo wore a sullen expression as he spat at his waste of a day. "Dammit, I've been stalking these two the whole damn day and nothings happened."

Neo let out a deep sigh as he looked at the happy couple and reflected on the words Alex said to him last night 'Maybe I am being a little paranoid.' Neo took another glance at the couple as they strolled to the center of the park which Neo assumed is where Alex would make a move.

'Well I've come this far so I might as well finish it, besides, there's no guarantee that chick won't pull something at the end' Neo pursued the couple using the trees and bushes as his cover as the three slowly approached the fountain at the middle of the park.  
_

Currently Alex was walking side by side with Yuuma and so far his date had gone off without a hitch.

'Nice, everything's going smoothly, I've been pretty passive so far but I think now's my chance to make a move.' Alex thought to himself as he gathered his courage.

***CLASP***

Alex reached for Yuuma's hand and gently held it in his own earning a blush form the couple. 'Holy shit we're holding hands! Ok man keep it together were almost at the fountain that's when I go in for the kiss.' The two finally made it to the center of the park. It was a spacious area surrounded by lush trees and a beautifully crafted fountain located at the center.

* * *

Despite it being a spacious area it was rather vacant with not a single person in sight. This didn't seem to bother Alex much as he thought it could add to the the romantic atmosphere. Suddenly Yuuma released herself from Alex's grip and was now standing before the fountain with her arms behind her back.

Neo was crouched in a bush as he looked on at the new development before him. "Hmm, looks like she's about to do something." Neo whispers to himself as he observes the Yuuma whos back was turned to Alex if something bad was gonna happen now would be the time but suddenly…

***FLAP***

"You know it isn't very polite to spy." Neo jumped as he heard what sounded like wing flaps followed by a deep man's voice, turning in the sounds direction he found himself at loss for words.

In front of him was a man wearing a pale gray trench coat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, a pair of black gloves, and a black fedora. But his most noticeable feature were the pair of flapping black bird-like wings that were currently supporting him off the ground.

'What the hell' Neo paused struggling to process the seemingly impossible creature that stood before him.

"Well now, it's fortunate that we were able to get the two of you in one go like this now, we can move towards our next objective." The man said to no one in particular.

Neo didn't know what this man was talking about but he did know one thing.

He had to run.

"Lets not." Before Neo could even attempt a sprint the winged man blitzed forward driving his knee into Neo's stomach.

"AUGH!" Neo gasped as spit flew out his mouth, the kick was hard leaving a sharp burning pain in his stomach but he refused to lose conscience.

'Wh-what the fuck! It burns. I couldn't even see him move.'

"Tough little bastard then take this" The man delivered a powerful chop to Neo's neck so hard the teen lost consciousness.

Looking past the trees the man saw the the couple and smirked. "Well now it seems things will be getting interesting soon."

* * *

Yuuma finally turned around cutely smiling with a small blush on her face "It sure was fun today Alex-kun."

'God why is she so damn cute.' Alex spaced out as he looked at his girlfriend who was bathed in the light of the setting sun. It was then that Yuuma's voice snapped him out of his daze.

"Hey, Alex-kun."

"Y-yes Yuuma"

"To commemorate this special moment there's something I want you to do for me."

'Holy shit we're really gonna kiss!" Alex thought excitedly.

Yuuma walked closer to Alex they were now only a inch or two apart. 'Is my breath good? CHECK! I've mentally prepared myself ok i'm ready!'

"What is it Yuuma?" Alex asked trying to sound as composed as possible.

Yuuma leaned in close to Alex's ear and said clearly.

"Will you die for me."

'Wh-what she just say.'

"My bad Yuuma what did you just say, I don't think I heard you right" Alex scratched his head with a nervous smile believing his ears were playing tricks on him.

However…

"I said will you die for me" She repeated laughing as she underwent a transformation before Alex's eyes. Giant black wings resembling those of a bird sprouted from her back. Her clothes seemed to vanish, being replaced by some form of S&M outfit with a cut off chain on her left arm.

Alex could only stare in shock at the spectacle he had witnessed unable to process the events that just unfolded. 'W-what? What the hell is happening!?'

Yuuma only stared at the boy with her now cold eyes as she smirked. "Although short-lived time I spent with you was fun. It was like playing house with a little child." Yuuma said her voice sounding more mature and cold as she smirked at the confused and frightened boy sadistically.

Yuuma extended her hand and summons forth a bulk of light which formed into what looked like a spear. Yuuma raised the spear over her as she prepared to drive it through the terrified boys body before a familiar voice called her true name.

"Hold on a second Raynare." The man revealed himself to be Raynare's comrade Dohnaseek dragging by the hair a unconscious Neo.

"NEO!" Once he say his friend in such a state Alex forgot about his sense of fear and ran towards the man seeing this, Dohnaseek simply tossed the teen towards him with little effort.

"Ugh" Neo slammed into Alex the latter catching him before quickly setting him down to access his condition.

"Well done Dohnaseek now we can move the plan forward a few days." Raynare said in a pleased voice still keeping her cold demeanor.

"This wouldn't happen if you didn't insist on these stupid schemes of yours." Dohnaseek reprimanded.

"Whatever lets just get this over with." Raynare looked to the two teens recreating her light spear and pointing it to the two teens.

"W-wait Yuuma why are you doing this?" Alex pleaded with "Yuuma" hopping to stall for an opportunity to escape or at least negotiate for he and Neo's lives.

"Sorry, but you two pose too much of a threat to us, so we decided to get rid of you now to save trouble. If you want to hold a grudge, then hate the God who put the Sacred Gear inside you." Raynare explained to the two boys.

'God? Sacred Gear?' Alex thought confused.

Raynare being through talking thrust her light spear through Alex's abdomend causing him to cough up a huge amount of blood as the spear tore through his insides.

Alex collapsed to his side gripping his wound to contain the blood loss but to no avail.

"So did you kill the other one yet?" Raynare asked looking at the unconscious Neo.

"No I just knocked him out a small shock is all it take." Dohnaseek replied.

With that Raynare pointed at the boy and a pink bolt of electricity shot forward coming in contact with his body.

"AAAAH!" Neo writhed and screamed in pain as his nerves felt like they were on fire.

"It was only a shock, geez this is why I hate humans and their fragile bodies." Raynare said.

Neo looked at his surroundings and the first thing he saw was the bastard that knocked him out, the second made him question his sanity as he swore he saw a girl that looked like Alex's girlfriend only older, meanir, and dressed like a hooker.

Everything stopped when Neo laid his eyes on Alex.

Red.

Red was everywhere.

Alex laid their seemingly lifeless.

"ALEX!" Neo roared turning Alex over to see the wound growing pale he saw the wound and the paleness of his skin.

"Aw how sad to see his precious best friend dead before his eyes, but that's also hilarious." Raynare taunted cackling to herself.

"Don't be upset human you'll be joining him real soon." Dohnaseek timed in.

The two stopped their taunting when they noticed that Neo lack of reaction. He just mourned his dead friend back turned to the two that killed him as if they weren't even there.

Neo's voice was the first to end the silence as he said "Why did you kill him?" The voice was flat and emotionless.

Dohnaseek stepped forward summoning his blue spear of light hovering it over the teens back with a demented smirk. "Its because those of a higher power said that you two have powers that could pose a threat to our race so were simply nipping you in the bud."

"Heh, so I guess your race must not be worth shit if you have to go this far for two lowly humans huh." This seemed to be the last straw for Dohnaseek as he drove the spear through Neo's chest.

"AUGGHH!" Neo screamed as he coughed up a huge amount of blood.

"How dare you lowly human trash to talk down to me a superior race know your place!" Dohnaseek shouted as he twisted the blade of light embedded in Neo's chest causing Neo even more pain.

To the side Raynare simply sighs at her comrades childish outburst. "Dohnaseek it's time to go. We dont want "them" catching us." Raynare ordered.

Dohnaseek consented ripping out his spear out from Neo's chest causing him to collapse to the ground as a result.

As he was bleeding out Neo heard the unfurl and flapping of wings and assumed they were gone.

'Dammit this fucking hurts I wonder if it hurt this bad for Alex.' Neo lied on his stomach taking a look at his surroundings as best he could with his blurring vision.

'God my life was fucking garbage, I was treated like shit my whole life and now im gonna die from some weird bird fuckers.' Neo cursed as he thought about his shitty life before images of Alex and a blonde hair girl popped into his mind.

'Now that I think about it I'm gonna die a virgin aren't I? Damn after Yukino died I stopped trying to make connections doesn't help that i've always been bad with women.' Neo bitterly chuckled to himself coughing up even more blood.

***STEP STEP STEP STEP***

'Someone else is coming? Dammit my hearing is fading and I've lost way to much blood. Those guys were not humans so the chances of are murder getting resolved is zero. God what a shit way to go.

"Huuu…. Well this was a little surprising, I wasn't expecting you " said a feminine voice that seemed unfazed by the gruesome scene before her.

"I didn't plan on it right now, but I guess I don't mind picking it up this way," she said, "your life that is. From now on, you two will live for me."

Neo hearing these words had only one thought before he lost conscience "Wh-what the fuck?"

**END  
**

* * *

**Thank you for reading I hope you all enjoyed, if you did please read & review!**


	2. They Leave Behind Their Old Lives

Black.

All he could see was darkness.

At first, he thought he was dead until he felt pain rack across his body.

He was happy about this feeling because it meant he was still alive.

He didn't understand how exactly, but for now he knew he was at least alive.

He groaned in pain as he breathed his chest feeling like fire, but overall he was fine.

Next came the frightening part as he dared to crack open one eye observing his surroundings.

He noticed it was day by the apparent sunlight that stung at his eyes seeming extra painful today.

"Mggghhh...!" He groaned as he opened his other eye as he felt the surrounding seemed safe enough.

As he got a better look, the boy noticed he knew precisely where he was.

'This is the guest room in Alex's house.' Neo noted as he looked at the familiar furniture and carpet in the room.

'But how did I get here, the last thing I remember was…' Neo gripped his temples as he processed the events that had occurred. He remembered the fight he had with Alex and how he decided to stalk him on his date and how near its end everything went south.

One would think he was dreaming, seeing people sprout bird wings and flying and able to create spears out of nowhere and most off all being killed when he was sitting right there alive. But Neo knew that wasn't a dream. The whole thing was too surreal to have been a mere dream that even the worst of his nightmares could never replicate.

While he believed it was possible for him to survive the initial stab, the shock from the amount of blood he lost should have sealed his fate before help even arrived at the scene. What's more, no medical technology could have covered up the wound he received, but as he went over his chest with his hand, there wasn't even a scare let alone any bandages.

Something was definitely wrong here.

"Wait what happened to Alex?" Neo asked himself as he broke out in a cold sweat as he fretted over the fate of his friend, but if he was alive, surely Alex was too, he thought.

"Mmmm...ahhhmm..." A sweet-sounding moan sounded beside him derailing any thoughts he had as he realized he wasn't alone in this room.

Slowly Neo turned to his left to find the source of the noise to see an incredible beauty, long luscious crimson hair redder than even his own, and naked pure white skin which looked softer than silk. Yes, naked. As in the pinks of her nipples as well as her "Golden Palace" were currently out for his full viewing pleasure.

Heat filled Neo's cheeks as he looked upon the incredible site with aww. He had seen tons of naked women in all the porn and hentai he had watched but to see the real thing, and so close his heart began beating faster.

With all these factors in mind, Neo couldn't help but express the swelling emotions he was feeling in the best way he knew how to…

"AAAAAHHHHH!" By screaming like a bitch.

Neo forgetting any senses of pains bolted off the bed and onto the floor as he had a flustered look on his face.

"Wha-why the Hell is this chick sleeping naked next to me!" Neo shouted before realizing something he had failed to notice earlier.

"Wait...WHY THE FUCK AM I NAKED TOO! I mean, I sleep in the nude anyway. But I don't remember taking my clothes off last night!" Neo rambled on to himself not knowing that all his incessant shouting had woke the red-haired girl.

"Well, now you're quite energetic this morning guess I don't need to ask you how your feeling."

Now sitting up with her legs crossed was the red-haired girl whose breasts hung out freely for him to see.

"Good morning, pleasant day isn't it." The girl waved at him causing Neo to stare at her blankly not out of lust or captivity but of sheer unbelievability of the situation.

Neo took several deep breaths as he steadied his rapid heartbeat before breathing. "Well, as far as first encounters go we've both fucked this one up pretty hard so I might as well just introduce myself. So anyway my names Neo Kanbaru and I have several questions for you."

"Hehe. Well, now you certainly cut straight to the point. Very well I shall answer any question you might have to the best of my ability." The red-head responded elegantly.

"Ok then to get it out of the way, we didn't like, do it right?" Neo asked awkwardly as he tried only to look the girl in the eyes. "Oh, you mean sex, no we didn't I'm still a virgin."

Neo sighed in relief to hear that as he moved on to more serious business. "Ok, now that that's out of the way where is Alex?" Neo asked his voice was coming out a bit stronger as his fist clenched showing he was on edge.

"Don't worry your friend is fine. Just like you, he took a bad hit but luckily my servant, and I were in the area and were able to heal you quick enough so that your lives were not in danger." the red-headed girl explained as she stood up from the bed causing Neo to back up.

"You're so tense, don't worry silly boy, I'm not going to hurt you," She giggled as she walked towards a pair of panties that had been lying on the ground putting them on with no shame that a boy was in the room with her.

"Yeah I'm not buying that shit for a second, you say he's fine but where is he and what do you mean "healing"?"

"Well to answer your question about your treatment I thought two boys wouldn't like the thought of sharing a bed together, so I requested the aid of my servant to heal one of you while I do the other. As for why we were both sleeping naked, critical injuries such as yours required me to heal through skin to skin contact." She said now putting on her bra.

Neo said nothing as he was processing all of what the girl said. Frankly, he found it all but, going along with her explanation that would explain how he survived. Thinking back on it he could recall hearing a woman's voice saying something to him before he lost consciousness but couldn't remember what was said exactly.

"As to where Alex is he would be in his room with one of my servants treating him, though it should be done by now seeing as you both had similar injuries." Rias said.

"Thank God." Neo suddenly felt a sharp pain in his brain causing him to collapse on his knees. "Augh! What...the ...fuck!"

The crimson-haired girl giggled at the boy. "You probably shouldn't say that name anymore."

"Ugh, what name?" Neo groaned as he rubbed his temples.

"God" the girl clarified. "In fact invoking God's name in any form of oath or prayer will cause you that pain. With that in consideration, it is wise if you learned to stop swearing to God or praying."

"Done and done, I don't really do any of that religion bull anyway." Neo responded immediately catching the girl off guard.

"Really? You don't mind not being able to practice religion or speak God's name at all?"

"Nope. I stopped believing in that shit a long time ago, not like it ever did much for me when I did."

The girl stared at the boy with pitying eyes. "That sounds sad."

"Not really you hear shit like that a dime a dozen." Neo replied already knowing where the conversation was headed.

"Does it have anything to do with all the scars across your body?"

'And here it is.' Neo thought as he scowled at the girl's question. If he were properly clothed, then the scars wouldn't be noticeable, but as he was in the nude, the girl had a full view of his body which, to say the least, was a sad sight.

All across his chest, back upper arms, and thighs were horrible signs of injuries. Some seemed like cuts others like flesh had split apart from an impact and others like burn marks.

"Drop it." Neo said with anger in his voice as he tried to cover his chest and stomach as that was were some of the ugliest looking ones lied.

"We can talk about it if you'd like."

At that, the two stared at each other in silence.

"Look I don't know who you are and I don't give a damn, what I do care about is that I should be dead and somehow you had the power to make that not happen and I want to know why."

"Fair point." The girl said with a smile. "In that case, I believe I should return the favor and introduce myself." The girl said as she began putting on the rest of her uniform. "My name is Rias Gremory...and I'm a Devil."

Neo blinked. "What?"

"And last night, you and your friend were attacked by two beings known as Fallen Angels." The girl faced him wearing the Kuoh Academy Girls Uniform. "In order to save your lives, I performed a ritual to make you both devils."

"Ok, maybe you didn't hear me, so I'll repeat: Nani?"

"You and your friend were given new lives as Devils. And I happen to be your Master. Nice to meet you, Neo Kanbaru-kun. May I call you Neo?"

A long, tense silence was held between the two before a third voice the next room over was heard throughout the entire house.

"HOLY SHIT! WHY IS THERE A NAKED CHICK IN MY BED! Wait a minute. WHY AM I NAKED TOO!" Alex shouted from his room.

Neo looked at Rias and said, "Let's continue this conversation after I catch Alex up to speed…and hopefully get some fucking pants."

* * *

After a very active morning in the Volt household, everyone had calmed down and decided to come downstairs to eat breakfast while continuing their discussion.

On one side of the table sat Alex and Neo in their school uniforms, Neo getting his from the stash of clothes he had previously put in Alex's house in case he was ever in a situation.

On the other side sat two illustrious beauties. One of them was the crimson haired Rias Gremory, sitting beside her was a Yamato Nadeshiko-lookalike named Akeno Himejima. She had flawless skin and shiny midnight black hair tied into a ponytail and breasts that rivaled Rias.

Currently, everyone was eating a bowl of cereal besides Neo who said he wasn't hungry and just rested his face on his hand with his eyes closed.

Neo had explained everything Rias had told him, and now the two boys were mulling over all the new information they had just learned.

"So let me get this straight...My girlfriend Yumma was actually a Fallen Angel named Raynare."

"Yup." Neo responded.

"And apparently she wanted to kill me because of some secret power I have."

"Yup."

"And so you decided to follow us on our date even though I ignored your advice because you were looking out for me."

"Yup."

"But because of that you ended up being killed along with me, and now we've been reincarnated as Devils by her." Alex pointed his spoon towards Rias. "Who is also a devil and also our...Master?"

"Oh my g-...I mean yes we just explained this to you dude." Neo said as he made sure not to mention the G word.

"Hey man, it was a lot of shit to take in. I'm just making sure I've got everything." Alex scratched his head.

"It's the truth." Rias said as she took a sip of her cereal from her spoon. "I know it's all hard to believe, but I assure you everything that we've told you is true."

"Nah I believe you." Alex said immediately, calmly taking a bite of his own cereal.

Rias blinked, surprised by the boy's easy acceptance. "Really?"

Alex nodded. "Well yeah cause…" Alex paused as he looked down his face becoming serious as he recalled the memories before his death. "It sounds crazy, but I know that I definitely died to Yuuma or rather Raynare last night."

Alex looked up more positive as he looked to his friend at his side. "Plus you somehow convinced this master of cynicism that your story was legit so I have to believe it." Alex smiled at Neo.

"Fufu looks like you two are quite close how adorable." Akeno giggled as she looked at the two friends.

Well yeah, after all, he's my bro he's always got my back," Alex said with a grin as he turned to the red-haired boy in question. "Ain't that right Neo."

"Well someone has to be there to cover your dumbass." Neo said with a sigh.

Alex smirked as he flipped Neo the bird.

"We should probably get going," Rias said as she stood up from her seat stopping Alex from questioning Neo's actions further.

"What?" Alex blinked confused by what she meant.

"We're going to be late for school." Rias clarified as she waited on Neo and Alex with Akeno who was already by her side.

"Oh right." Alex said getting up with Neo silently following behind him as they left with their "Master".

* * *

Upon walking through the academy's front gate, all eyes fell on the strange group of Rias, Akeno, Alex, and Neo walking together as if it was some sort of supernatural phenomenon.

"It-it can't be! Why are Rias-senpai and Akeno-senpai walking together with those brutes."

"They must have threatened them with something!"

"Maybe their bodyguards."

"Or a forbidden romance."

"No Rias-sama and Akeno-sama can't be with that demon and that blonde monkey!"

"Eeeh! Look away! The Red Devil's glaring at us!"

Neo found it hard not to give a menacing gaze at the student spouting nonsense when the crowd hardly did anything to stifle their gossip. Meanwhile, Alex just walked with his head lowered trying to keep as much attention off him as possible.

When he saw the two pair of feet stop moving in front of him, he looked up to see Rias and Akeno staring back at the two boys with a smile.

"Well be leaving for class now thank you both for walking us here." Akeno said bowing graciously which caused Alex blush as he remembered waking up to her this morning.

"I'll be sending someone to fetch the two of you later just hang around after the final bell. Then we will discuss the matter we talked about further." Rias bowed as she left to walk up the stairs Akeno following close behind.

"Fetch huh, and just who the Hell is she gonna send. What do you think Neo." Alex turned only to see Neo had already begun walking to his class deep in thought completely forgetting about his friend. Alex was about to chase after him but then…

"What the fuck!" Alex swerved to the right narrowly escaping a punch aimed towards the back of his head.

Looking to the culprit of the attack he found Matsuda looking back with hateful eyes. "Alright, you son of a bitch what's the deal!"

"Wh-what?" Alex said confused not understanding the reason he was being attacked.

"He means why were you and that brute Neo-san walking together with the two most popular chicks in school." Motohama clarified as he calmly adjusted his glasses.

"W-well it's kind of a long story guys so let's just-"

"I knew it your hiding something! Start from the beginning you bastard! Depending on your story you might leave here either beaten up or in a body bag!" Motohama threatened as he getting in Alex's face.

'Ah geez. Neo, why'd you have to leave me with these two dumbasses.' Alex sighed as he thought to himself. He planned to annoy him about it later but for now, he had to figure how to get out of this mess first.

* * *

After school Neo had his head down as he waited for the "fetcher" to arrive.

Between the revelations of supernatural beings existing, the confirmation of his death and the loss of his humanity Neo was too distracted to pay attention during class.

He tried to form his own theories, but with his lack of information, he was at a dead end which caused him to be agitated through the whole day.

"Hello." A blonde youth stood over his chair greeted.

"Fuck off." Neo responded coldly too irritated to care for conversation.

"Well sorry, but I'm here by the orders of Rias Gremory-senpai to get you." The blonde teen said which drew Neo's attention.

Looking at the person, he found a handsome young man with short blonde hair, grey eyes with a mole underneath his left wearing his Kuoh Academy uniform.

"So your the fetcher guy huh," Neo eyed the teen up and down before standing up from his seat. "I expected you to take longer."

At this, the blonde youth smiled as he scratched his cheek. "Um, Kanbaru-san you do know were in the same class correct?"

"...No." Neo responded bluntly.

"I see, well my names Yuuto Kiba" Kiba introduced himself.

"So I assume we're going to pick up Alex now." Neo ignored Kiba's introduction as he walked out of the classroom Kiba in tow.

"Y-yes do you mind leading the way there?" Kiba asked slightly off-put by Neo's rude demeanor.

"Sure." Neo responded as he walked down the hall towards Alex's class.

* * *

After getting Alex Kiba took charge as he led the two boys to their supposed meeting the walk was spent mostly until the group arrived at the old school building on the outskirts of the campus.

Alex and Neo both had skeptical looks about the run-down building but were assured by Kiba that the building interior was much better as he led the two inside. Much to their surprise, he was right as the inside was much cleaner and well maintained than the building exterior.

"Well I was kinda worried at first, but it looks like this place isn't as bad as I thought." Alex said looking around the hall.

"I thought you'd say that," Kiba responded with an amused smile as they walked down the long hall.

"And you guys have this whole building to yourselves huh, must be nice." Alex remarked.

"Well, it technically belongs to the school, but since Buchou's father owns the school-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Alex interrupted. "Rias' dad owns the school?"

"Why yes." Kiba replied with a bemused smile much to Alex's shock.

'Jeez, she's a total bombshell, and she's super rich, that girl's got it made alright.' Alex mentally sighed before looking over to Neo who seemed to be annoyed at something the whole walk.

As the group made their way up the stairs to the second floor, the group came to a stop outside of a specific room with a sign over the door which read:

[Occult Research Club]

Alex and Neo became tense as Kiba approached the door knocking on the door.

"Buchou, I've brought them."

"Come in." A voice replied immediately.

Stepping into the room, Neo surveyed the surroundings and was taken aback by the creepy signs, letters, and symbols scattered across the room including the walls, ceiling, and floor. Looking to the center of the room he and Alex spotted a particularly large one that looked like the kind you see used by Satanic cults for demon rituals.

The room also had fancy Victorian style couches, chairs, tables and old paintings lined the walls. All in all, it was the textbook definition of creepy befitting of the clubs name.

Sitting on one of the couches that faced each other was a petite white-haired loli quietly eating sweets.

Neo and Alex stared at the cute girl who disrupted the rooms intimidating atmosphere with her mere presence.

She seemed to not have noticed the three boys, or maybe she just didn't care as she at her snacks with a monotone expression.

"Alex-kun, Neo-kun this is Koneko Toujou, she's a member of the Occult Research Club, and Koneko-chan this is Alexander Volt and Neo Kanbaru." Yuuto said giving introductions.

Koneko stopped eating her treat looking up at the two without saying anything. A few seconds later she went back to eating her snacks.

'Ok, what's her deal' Alex thought as he stared at the girl taken aback from her social awkwardness.

Suddenly the sound of running water could be heard.

"Hm?" Alex scanned over the room to find the source of the noise. At the back of the room, he saw a shower curtain through it showed the silhouette of a woman.

"Huh! What the fuck! Who takes a shower in a room full of people!" Alex snapped unable to comprehend the ridiculous situation.

"Oh, Alex, is that you?" the voice of Rias Gremory rang out. "Just a moment I'll be right with you."

"Buchou, I have your clothes out here for you when you're ready." Said a voice Alex was very familiar with.

"Thank you Akeno." Rias said sighing in relief as the showers hot water washed over her.

From behind the curtain, Akeno appeared noticing the boys almost immediately.

"Ara Ara, fancy seeing you two again~" She said in a pleasant tone which caused Alex to have a slight blush on his face while Neo kept his aloof expression. Seeing Alex's embarrassment, she smiled in amusement.

"Don't worry, I don't bite~" She said calming Alex's erratic nerves.

"Oh, uh right." Alex said as he calmed down, "I don't think I got the chance to say this before but thank you for er- healing me Akeno-senpai."

"Fufu, don't worry Alex-kun, it was my pleasure~" Akeno said in a voice that reeked of sensuality causing Alex to slightly blush once again.

"It seems you both made it, Alex-kun, Neo-kun." Rias said as she entered the scene in her school uniform a towel in hand to dry her wet hair.

"Well, now that you're here why don't we cut all the pleasantries and just skip to the point of why everyone's here." Neo said surprising everyone.

"Well now, aren't introductions supposed to be given before delving into pressing matters." Rias said with a smile which only made Neo scowl.

"We already had our introduction this morning, Rias Gremory, so as far as I'm concerned you're the only person in this room I'm concerned with." Neo said crossing his arms.

In response, Rias let out a sigh. "Very well, take a seat."

"I'd rather stand actually."

Rias then turned to Alex.

"Um, I'll stand too."

"Very well so the two of you want an explanation correct?" Rias paused looking at them both seriously."

"No, I came for the tea and sweats." Neo replied sarcastically earning a scowl from Rias.

"You do understand that I brought you back from the dead. You could, I don't know, be a bit more grateful."

"Right be grateful to the girl who claims to be a devil, a being know for tricking and extorting humans to suit their own needs. Cut to the chase Red, you want something, what is it." Neo said in a sharp tone.

Rias let out a sigh as she decided to move on to the topic at hand. "Very well let's discuss why I brought the two of you here."

"Oh good, I was getting kinda worried we were never gonna get to that point." Alex sighed as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

"Seeing as Neo single-handedly crushed all first impressions into the dirt," Rias said with an obviously fake smile. "We may as well start by welcoming you two as the newest members of the Occult Research Club."

Both Neo and Alex widen their eyes.

"Hold the fuck up! Hit the break!" Neo walked forward while Alex shot up from his seat causing Rias to let out another sigh. "We came to get answers not to join your satanic ass club! Right, Alex?" Neo turned towards Alex for backup.

"Yeah uh no offense Rias-senpai, but me and this guy aren't exactly the extracurricular type." Alex interjected.

"Well, if you two would just calm down and listen for a one second you'd know that this club is actually a cover for us devils." Rias sighed for what felt like the fifth time.

"Wait did you say "Us"?" Alex blinked.

"Correct" Rias confirmed. "Everyone in this room is a devil."

Neo and Alex scanned the room seeing no one deny the red-haired girls claim.

Rias decided it best to move the conversation along now that the two had settled down. "And the creatures that attempted to kill the two of you-"

"I'd say they did better than an attempt." Neo interrupted.

"-were something completely different from us." Rias said. "The person you knew as Yuuma Amano-"

"Yeah not to be an ass," This time Alex was the one to interrupt. "Technically Neo didn't know Yuuma." Alex pointed out. "I never got the chance to introduce her, because of the whole you know, her killing us thing."

"-was a-" Rias, now growing angry tried to pick up where she left off before she was cut off again.

"Actually Alex I wasn't killed by your bitch of a girlfriend." Neo corrected. "I was killed by her fedora-wearing friend."

"-WAS A FALLEN ANGEL!" Rias said with gritted teeth, finally snapping from the two's constant interruptions. "Dear Maou, you two are insufferable." Rias began massaging her temples.

"Did you two come for information or to waste my time." Rias said bluntly causing the two to look at her apologetically.

"We're sorry." Alex replied.

"Please continue." Neo added.

"As I was saying, the girl you knew as Yuuma, as well as the man that accompanied her, were Fallen Angels, they are former Angels who used to serve God but have fallen to Hell because they had evil intentions. They're also the enemy of us Devils." Rias explained before continuing.

"We devils have been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times fighting over the possession of the Underworld which you humans would call Hell. Along with the Angels who still serve heaven, we three sides have conflicted with each other for a very long time."

After digesting the information, Alex spoke up, "So if Yuuma was a Fallen Angel then why did she and her friend target Neo and me? I mean we were both just humans."

"It was because you two were dangerous," Rias said. "Within you both is a Sacred Gear, it is a special power bestowed upon a rare few humans by God."

Alex's recalled what Yuuma had said to him last night 'Sorry, but you two pose too much of a threat to us, so we decided to get rid of you now to save trouble. If you want to hold a grudge, then hate the God who put the Sacred Gear inside you.'

"Allow me to better explain." Kiba stepped up.

"Sacred Gears are irregular powers that are bestowed upon certain humans. For example, most of the people whose names are recorded in history are said to be possessors of a Sacred Gear." Kiba explained.

"Ahhh, that's cool." Alex responded with minimal enthusiasm while Neo didn't react at all.

"So I'm still not understanding why we were targeted," Neo questioned. "As far as I'm concerned these Sacred Gears just sound like magic popularity boosters."

"Many Sacred Gears have functions that are only usable in human society. But certain Sacred Gears can prove a threat to non-humans like Devils and Fallen Angels.

Hearing this a glint appeared in Neo's eyes as he displayed his interest on the subject. "So your saying this Sacred Gear thing I have could help me kill those Fallen Angels and potentially you Devils."

"You are correct, though I find it uncomforting that you added that last part," Rias answered with a wry smile. "It goes against my better judgment but why don't I help you both summon it."

"Shit really?" Alex asked. "How do we do it?"

"First, raise your dominant hand."

"K." Alex agreed, raising his right hand before lowering it as he noticed Neo was just looking at him.

"Dude what are you doing?" Alex asked.

"I'm watching you do it to see if she's fucking with us or not." Neo replied.

"Will you just shut up and do as I say for five seconds" Rias commanded. "I promise you it's not a joke and that it will be really cool."

With that Neo and Alex raised their right arms and waited for further instruction.

"Now close your eyes and think of the strongest being that comes to mind." Rias instructed.

'The strongest being that comes to mind? Damn, that's tough.' Alex was perplexed by the weird order unable to conjure a proper image.

A few minutes of nothing passed before Alex caved and whispered to his friend for help.

"Hey Neo you got any ideas for me? I was thinking of using an anime, but I can't think of any good character to use." Alex asked.

"Alex, it wouldn't help you if I gave you my opinion of the strongest being. Think for yourself." Neo responded.

Alex scowled at his friends reply before returning to his thoughts.

'Shesh asshole fine I'll do it by myself.' Alex concentrated as an image of a robot from one of his favorite animes came to his mind. 'Yeah if we're talking about strength I gotta go with Gurren Lagann.'

"Do you both have your images?" Rias asked, and the two boys replied with a nod.

"Now mimic the pose of that person. You have to imagine it vividly and with feeling." Rias said with a smile.

'Wh-what? But there are people around. I don't wanna say that line in front of a bunch of strangers I'll look like a fucking moron.' Alex's eyes twitched at Rias' ridiculous command.

"Do it quickly." Rias said in a commanding voice.

'AHHH! Fuck it I'll do it! But if I hear any laughs, I'm kicking everyone's ass.' Alex extended his index finger and thumb forming the shape of an L as he clenched his left fist in a dramatic pose.

Meanwhile, Neo extended his right-hand clenching it has if he was holding a stick or a sword.

"My drill is the drill, that creates the HEAVENS!"

"Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."

***FWOOSH!***

Suddenly, an intense green aura enveloped Alex's right hand while a dark red aura enveloped Neo's.

The light around Alex's arm took the form of a red gauntlet with sharp-pointed claws and a green jewel on the back of his hand.

"Holy shit!" Alex said in amazement "So this is my Sacred Gear."

"Yes, and now that you've summoned it you can use it anywhere and at any time." Rias explained.

"Awesome! Hey Neo, what's yours-" Alex turned to Neo only to be met with the red-haired teens back.

"Yo Neo what's wrong?" Alex asked.

"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong." Neo turned around noticeably pissed as he held up his right hand. "What the Hell is this!"

On his right hand was a gauntlet similar to Alex's except it only covered his right hand and left his fingers uncovered. The gauntlet unlike Alex's was beige and had a dark red jewel.

Alex struggled to contain his laughter as he looked at Neo's Sacred gear until eventually, he couldn't contain himself.

"BWAHHH! Wha-What the Hell is that!" Alex roared clenching his gut with his unarmored hand. "Compared to mine yours looks like a damn toy."

Neo could find no reply to Alex's mocking as he scowled at his supposed "rare" and "special" power.

"Don't underestimate it Neo," Rias interjected. "The Fallen Angels saw it fit to kill you because you possessed it."

"Yes because accepting that I was killed and forced into slavery over this fucking Mighty Morphin Power Rangers glove will totally make me feel better." Neo spat.

"Hey man look on the bright side," Alex patted his friend's shoulder with his gauntlet. "If nothing else it makes a killer trick at parties." Alex snickered not seeming to notice the killing intent Neo was releasing.

***BAM!***

"Augh!" Neo gutted Alex with his gloved hand as the blonde-haired teen collapsed to his knees gripping his gut in pain.

"Well let's move on shall we," Rias said ignoring Alex's writhe in pain. "As I was saying the Fallen Angels weren't the only ones keeping an eye on you two. We were also watching to see if you whether or not you could be a useful ally or a threat."

"And so that day when you two were killed I used my power to resurrect you two, as my servants. I am Rias Gremory, daughter of the Duke of Gremory. Now that you've been given your orientation let's start with introductions. Everyone." Rias ordered as the Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko stood to attention.

***PA!***

At that moment, wings sprouted out of their backs. Black but different from the wings of the Fallen Angels, they were smooth and leathery like a bat.

***PA!***

Neo and Alex jerked forward as they felt a force push out form their back.

"Wha-what?" Alex stuttered as he looked at his back.

"Hm?" Neo looked over his own shoulder.

""The fuck!"" The two teens said in unison as they saw the cause of that sudden force.

They each had a pair of black wings that matched the others.

"My name is Yuuto Kiba," Kiba greeted. "I'm a second-year just like you guys, I also happen to be in Neo-kun's class."

"…Koneko Toujou," The white-haired loli greeted lacklusterly. "...I'm a first-year."

"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third-year." The raven-haired girl greeted. "I'm also the vice-president of this Occult Research Club. Nice to meet you~"

However, after finishing their greeting, the group noticed that the two boys seemed to have not been paying attention and had drifted into a world of their own.

"Hey, Alex let me touch yours." Neo asked as he stared at the wings on Alex's back.

"No way you have your own to touch, these are mine." Alex replied.

"But I'm scared to touch them, what if it feels weird. C'mon man." Neo pleaded.

"If that's the case then why the Hell would I ever let you touch mine. The answer is still no." Alex rejected again folding his arms.

"Ok, I'll make you a deal. I touch yours you touch mine. Fair." Neo raised a hand as he proposed his deal.

Alex looked at the offered hand before slowly extending his own making the deal. "Ok but just for a bit, and don't be rough."

The other devils blinked at the display.

Rias with folded arms looked at the scene in a questioning manner. "You two knowing that you and everyone else in this room are Devils is far less interesting to you than seeing wings pop out of each other's backs."

The two boys looked back to the rest of the group deciding to get back on the topic at hand with Alex stepping up to speak. "Sorry about that, so we're done here right."

"Not quite, we still have to discuss the position of your servitude." Rias said.

"Yeah about that," Neo spoke up. "Look Rias, we appreciate you bringing us back from the dead and unlocking these Sacred Gears, maybe in the future will find a way to return the favor, but why the Hell should we be your slaves." Neo questioned tilting his head.

"Theirs the fact you two will be labeled as Strays and be hunted down until the day you die." Rias said.

"Hm," Alex considered her words. "Yeah let's not do that."

"And you don't have to be my servants forever." Rias said peaking both boys interests.

"If you do well enough in your Devil duties you can rise through the ranks and ultimately achieve status on par with myself, meaning you may someday have servants of your own." Rias explained.

"Hmm. I can have people to boss around and do my work for me for the rest of my life." Alex considered Rias' words as he touched his chin in thought.

Rias then turned to Neo seemingly unfazed by the proposal.

"And you'll also get cool demon powers."

"Sweat." Once again Neo's eyes sparkle in interest.

"So what do you say?" Rias' asked.

Neo's expression became serious as he stared at Rias, and she staring back as if the two were trying to unravel each other's intentions.

Neo finally broke the silence and spoke. "Oi red, you said there are other Fallen Angels like the two bastards from last night, with normal Angels on top of that correct?"

"Yes." Rias confirmed waiting for the boy to get to his point.

'Well, it's not like we really have a choice but to be this chicks slave, at least for now. And considering how easily the first pair killed us there's probably no way we'd be able to survive on our own until we got stronger.' Neo scratched his scalp as he considered his options.

Neo looked over to Alex who looked back to him, as their eyes locked both teens without a word knew what they had to do.

Neo let out a deep sigh as he and Alex made their decision. "Alright, Rias-senpai we've decided to serve you. However, we have some conditions we would like you to fulfill in return." Alex spoke calmly and professionally as he made the proposal to Rias.

Rias gave a graceful nod. "Very well, I will fulfill these conditions as long as they are within my power to do so."

Neo then began stating the terms. "First, we won't be addressing you by special titles like "Master" or "Milady." For Alex, your name or "Buchou" will probably due for him. As for me if I'm feeling generous, I'll call you "Boss", other than that I don't give a damn."

Rias' brow furrowed a bit at the way he presented the proposal "Very well as long as you at least address me properly in front of other high ranked Devils."

"Fine." Neo replied as Alex said their other condition.

"Secondly, while in your service we also request a salary. It's only fair that if we don't have time to work because of the club that we still can make money after all we have shit we gotta pay for. We can discuss the amount and paydays later."

"Ok." Rias answered immediately shocking both the boys.

"Well shit, I thought for sure that wasn't going through. Right on." Alex clasped his fist triumphantly.

"So are those all your conditions?" Rias asked.

The two boys looked to each other and shrugged their shoulders in response.

"Well besides helping us to get stronger than yeah I'd say that's pretty much it." Alex scratched his head.

"You two realize that once we seal this pact, there's no going back, are you sure?" Rias asked.

"You make it sound we had any other choice in the matter besides dying. Of course, we're sure." Neo replied for them both with a smug smirk.

"Very well then." Rias stood up flipping her hair in a dramatic fashion. "Alexander Volt, Neo Kanbaru, from now until the end of time you two will serve the noble house of Gremory. Welcome." She ended with an elegant smile.

And so the two boys lives begin anew…

Gone was the ordinary lives of Neo Kanbaru and Alexander Volt.

And in their place was their new lives as servants of Rias Gremory.

**END**

* * *

**Hello everyone thank you so much for the support from the last chapter I really appreciate it and hope you all continue reading. I wanted to take the time to answer the reviews I got from the last chapter as well so here you go:**

**sonic- Thanks man I hope you'll find this one to be good as well.**

**Deadzior- As you can see in this chapter I went with making them both Rias' servants no reason I just like to keep it simple. I also do have Grammarly but that first chapter took me years to release so certain parts are older than others hope this one is better. I also took your recommendation and downloaded Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road and am having fun playing it.**

**flo463- For now Alex seems like a generic Issei replacement but I hope to make him stand out more as his own character in the future thanks for the review.**

**Welp I'm done now thank you all for reading and please continue to read and review.**


	3. The Nun, Castle, and the Foot-soldier

**The Nun, the Castle, and the Foot-soldier**

* * *

***STEP STEP STEP STEP***

Neo walked up to the steps of his apartment complex with slow steps as he arrived at his front door marked with the nameplate that read [KANBARU].

Neo threw the door closed, letting out a tired sigh as he slumped against it.

He had just got done doing his Devil duties for the day and was utterly exhausted.

'That lying bitch,' An image of Rias flashed across Neo's mind. 'How in the fuck is handing out leaflets count as devil work. And on a bike no less!' Neo cursed.

After agreeing to become Rias' servants, Neo and Alex were quickly put to work. Their first job is to hand out leaflets with a readily usable magic circle. When human with a strong desire to take these and make a wish, a Devil will be summoned out of them, and that Devil will fulfill the human's request and then receive an award for the service they provided.

Rias said the award could be anything from money to an object, to even the person's life.

Neo felt a vibration from his right pants pocket, pulling out his phone, he saw a text from Alex who seemed to have finished with handing out his stack of leaflets.

Neo shot him a quick reply before heading to his room to rest his exhausted body from his routine devil duties.

This would be the conclusion of Neo and Alex's first few days as devils.

* * *

On a particular day after school, Neo and Alex were walking to the Old School Building with more pep in their step than normal. That was because today, they were informed that they would finally get to make their first pacts.

They weren't particularly pleased with the thought of being summoned to do work for others, but those thoughts were driven away as they thought about escaping from their leaflet duties.

"Man I'm so happy we finally got to do something other than pass out summoning circles." Alex said with a relieved sigh.

"Hey Neo, what do you think making a pact is like?" Alex asked.

Neo put a hand to his chin in thought. "Well seeing as we don't have any demonic powers, I assume most of our pacts will be odd jobs which sounds like a pain in the ass." Neo replied.

"Hmm well, hopefully, it's nothing too hard or creepy." Alex said with him and Neo sharing the sentiment.

The two stood before the Occult Research Club door as Alex went to knock.

"Uh hey were coming in." Alex said as he and Neo entered, greeted by all the other members.

"So you've arrived, Akeno I'll let you handle things from here." Rias confirmed the two boys arrival before giving her orders.

"Yes, Buchou. Now could one of you boys please come to the center of the magic circle." Akeno gestured with a wave of her hand as Alex and Neo looked between each other.

"Guess I'll go." Neo said as he walked into the magic-circles center with both hands in his pocket.

'Firstly I'd like to congratulate you both, your job of handing out leaflets is over." Rias said with a smile as the two boys let out relieved sighs.

"Now I will have you do the actual job of a Devil though, because it's your first time, it's going to be a contract with someone who wants to make a small wish." Rias said.

"There are two reservation contracts with Koneko. Since it's hard to do both, I will leave one to each of you."

"…Please help me out." Koneko bows her head.

Neo notices the magic-circle he and Akeno were in begin to emit a blue and white light.

"Neo let me see your hand." Rias says.

Neo complies with the strange request and extends his right hand as Rias writes something on his palm with her finger.

Soon after his palm begins to glow as a magic circle is engraved in it.

"What the hell is this?" Neo asked blankly.

"It's a magic circle that allows you to transport to the client's place instantly by making you go through the teleportation-type magic-circle. And when the contract is made, it lets you return to this room." Rias explained.

"Oh. Ok." Neo replied unenthusiastically.

"Akeno is it ready?" Rias asked the black-haired girl.

"Yes, Buchou." Akeno replied.

Akeno steps out of the magic circle as the glow intensifies.

"The magic-circle is responding to the client. You will be teleported to that location now." Rias says before continuing. "You already have read the manual for what to do after getting teleported right?" Rias asks Neo.

"No." Neo replied casually.

"Good now get- wait. WHAT! WHY!?" Rias yelled sporadically as more and more light enveloped Neo's body.

"Cause it was boring as fuck." Neo replied as he waved nonchalantly before noticing everyone's worried expressions. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, and the worst-case scenario is that I beat the bastard senseless till he gives me something to complete the pact." Neo said which seemed only to make everyone worry more.

The lights completely covered Neo's body, and in the next moment, Neo was gone off to the client's location.

The room was left silent as everyone looked at Rias' whos bangs covered her eyes masking her no doubt endless frustration.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to Alex, who became tense as Rias gave him a calm, welcoming smile.

"Before I send you off on your pact I have to ask, Alex, you read the manual correct." Rias said calmly as chills ran up Alex's spine from the girl's quiet rage.

Alex gulped as to be prepared his reply knowing he was screwed no matter what he said he went with the truth. "Um, I skimmed it."

Unfortunately, the truth wasn't good enough so Alex was forced to stay an extra twenty minutes as he read the whole manual and would then have to apologize to his client for the inconvenience.

* * *

Neo found himself in a room, unlike the one before. The place he was in now was tidy apartment room smaller than his own.

"W-who the hell are you." Neo heard a panicky voice call to him. Turning around, he met a man who he supposed was his client.

The man was scrawny with black hair which reached down to his shoulders and a pair of glasses. If Neo was being honest, the man had a rather unhealthy complexion, but he pushed that to the side for now.

"Yo, I'm the devil you summoned." Neo said casually as he raised a hand in greeting.

"No, you're not I summoned Koneko-chan! Where is she?" The man questioned.

"Yeah well, she was booked with two contracts tonight and since me and my friend are new to being devil's we were assigned them instead." Neo explained.

"Dammit! This sucks so much ass!" The client shouted his complaints further agitating Neo.

"Look dude I don't enjoy the idea of helping people either so we can either make the pact, or you can keep bitching and moaning, and I'll just show myself out, and then you don't get a wish at all how's that." The client stopped his shouting as he timidly turned to Neo.

"R-right I'm sorry please don't go." The man apologized.

Neo let out a tired sight. He hadn't even begun the fulfill his client wish, and already he was sick of this.

'I wonder if Alex is doing something interesting with his pact.' Neo thought.

* * *

"GUUUGH!" Alex let out a pained grunt as he was sent flying into the ropes of the boxing ring he was in.

Fitting of his location, Alex was shirtless and dressed in boxing shorts and equipped with a pair of gloves, headgear, and even a mouthpiece.

'D-dammit what the hell. I guarded the hit, but the force of his punch still sent me flying. Not to mention my right arm feels numb after taking that hit.' Alex thought as he rubbed his now sore right arm.

"Hey, that was a good block, Alex!" Alex looked to his sparring partner and client.

"Ah, th-thanks Akihiko-senpai!" Alex replied.

The man Alex was sparring against was his client Katsuo Akihiko, a third-year and also the captain of the Kuoh Academy Boxing Club. He had a muscular build along with tanned skin and grey eyes with a scar on his left temple and an adhesive bandage on his nose.

He was a well-renowned fighter with strength that even made the fiercest of delinquents stand clear. However, because of this, he struggled to find opponents to challenge him as most people were either weaker than him or would avoid fighting him altogether.

This led him to summon a devil, albeit as a joke, to be a sparring partner able to match him and has continued to do so after finding his supernatural opponents to be a good match.

Katsuo extended a hand which Alex accepted rising to his feet.

"So, ready to go again!" Katsuo said energetically much to Alex's dismay.

"Uh, sure." Alex said, unassured.

"Great!" Katsuo said as he shuffled back getting into his stance as Alex did the same.

"This time stick to dodging Alex and only block if you have to. Also, try and weave in your own hits too! That's what makes the match fun!" Katsuo's shouts echoed in the empty boxing gym he had reserved for tonight.

"I'll try Akihiko-senpai." Alex said.

'I'll try not to fucking die you damn musclehead.' Alex spat to himself.

"That's the spirit! Push it to the MAXIMUM!" Katsuo cried as he rushed at Alex, the latter becoming tense at the charge of the raging beast before him.

"God dammit why couldn't Neo have gotten this one."

* * *

Meanwhile, Neo's client finally calmed down enough so that two could exchange in talk.

Neo learned that the man's name was Morisawa and that he worked for the government.

He apparently summoned a devil in order to get in touch with people and since then has fallen for Koneko, who was the first devil he summoned and the one he summons frequently.

"So what was your wish that you tried summoning Koneko for anyways." Neo asked, trying to get his contract over with.

"I wanted her to wear this." Morisawa said excitedly as he pulled out a schoolgirl uniform.

Neo stared at the uniform in question with a thoughtful glare. 'Hmmm. I swear I've seen that uniform. Not around town, though. I'm pretty sure it's from an anime but ..."

"It's Nagato Yuki's uniform from the Haruhi Suzumiya series." Morisawa clarified.

A light went off in Neo's head as soon as he heard the name. "Ah, I remember now."

"Huh, you know about the Haruhi Suzumiya series Devil-kun?" Morisawa asked.

"Well I've never actually watched it, but I have seen tons of fanart, memes, and clips of it." Neo replied.

"Huh well, whatever." Morisawa said, putting the uniform in his bottom dresser as he looked to Neo.

"So what kind of cool devil powers do you have?" Morisawa asked.

"Uhm powers?" Neo questioned.

"Yeah powers. You're a Devil, right? So you should have some sort of skill or ability. For example, Koneko-chan is really strong and can carry me like a princess." Morisawa explained.

'Thanks for the disgusting imagery.' Neo thought before looking at his right hand. "Guess it's worth a shot." Neo said out loud to no one in particular as he got to his feet.

Assuming a pose, Neo widened his legs as he held his right hand in front of his face in a claw-like motion while he gripped his forearm with his left.

"Sacred Gear!" On Neo's command, a light covered Neo's right hand when it died down the familiar beige gauntlet covered his right hand.

"So hows this?" Neo asked as he presented his Sacred Gear to Morisawa.

He was off-put when he saw that Morisawa was literally crying at the sight of the display he had just witnessed.

"That was incredible!" Morisawa shouted.

Neo recalled Alex's words a few days back where he had said his Sacred Gear could at least be used as a party trick and had to stop himself from getting visibly pissed.

Neo snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Morisawa seemed to be wanting his attention.

"Hey, Devil-kun is that pose a part of your power as well?" Morisawa asked referring to the stance Neo took before summoning his Sacred Gear.

"Oh that. Nah that's just a pose I came up with that I thought looked cool." Neo admitted as he folded his arms. "I happen to watch a lot of Jojo."

At this, Morisawa's face brightened up. "Wait, so you're a Jojo fan?"

"Yeah, why?" Neo asked.

Morisawa pumped out his chest triumphantly. "I'll have you know that Jojo happens to be my second favorite anime, with my first being Dragon Ball."

"Hou, what's your favorite part?" Neo asked as he attempted to hold back his growing excitement.

"Hmm, I'd have to say Part 3." Morisawa replied.

Hearing this Neo couldn't help but unleash his inner otaku. "Shit me too bro!" Neo said excitedly.

Morisawa grabs Neo's hand the former allowing the contact as to two locked eyes.

"You wanna have a Jojo marathon; I've got parts 1-4 on DVD." Morisawa said with shining eyes.

"Now you're speaking my language." Neo accepted.

And so the two spent the whole night marathoning Jojo, modeling the characters poses, and other such things till sunrise.

* * *

It was the next day after school in the Occult Research Club where an odd turn of events was taking place.

Rias sat in front of her two newest servants looking over the reports of they're first contracts and frankly, she was at a loss for words. While on the sidelines, Kiba wore a bitter smile, Koneko wore the same emotionless look on her face, and Akeno just giggled lightly.

Alex had succeeded in his contract, and his client seemed to have enjoyed the experience writing a pretty positive report.

The enigma was when she looked at Neo's who had failed to make a contract. However, instead of a negative response from the client, his report was also very positive.

"So Neo, you watched anime with the client, and that's all?" Rias questioned in a stern tone to her servant that stood in front of her.

Neo, however, seemed unfazed by the atmosphere his boss was giving off and answered her question in an uncaring manner. "Well we also played out some scenes ourselves but yeah that's about it."

"I see." Rias said as she reread the report in her hands before looking back to Neo. "Do you know what this is in my hands?"

"No, but I bet I'm about to find out." Neo replied snidely.

"This is a questionnaire the client fills out, asking how his contract with the summoned Devil went." Rias explained. "When I heard you had failed to make a contract, I assumed it was because of your rotten personality and failure to read the MANUAL like you were instructed." Rias said, putting a harsh emphasis on the last part.

"But it seems that wasn't the case. This is the first time I've ever received feedback like this, so I wasn't sure what to do." Rias explained.

"Wow and here I was assuming she was about to grill your ass for not getting a contract. Guess you dodged a bullet there, huh?" Alex said to Neo with a grin.

"However…" Rias spoke up. "This still doesn't change the fact that Alex managed to succeed in forming a contract while you didn't Neo. If you want to succeed in Devil society, it is essential that you cover your basics, understood?"

"Fine." Neo said unconvincingly causing Rias to give him harsh stare.

"Really?" Rias questioned.

"Jeez, you worry too much." Neo said, cracking his neck. "I'll make sure to get a pact next time, so stop worrying."

Rias had doubts, but she let them go and decided to believe in her servents abilities.

'After all, there's no way he would fail to get a contract for a second time.' Rias thought to herself as she let the matter go.

* * *

Currently, Neo was sitting on a park bench with a solemn expression on his face.

Alex walked towards him, holding two canned drinks.

"Wow man, I'm honestly shocked." Alex said as he tossed Neo one of the cans as he took a seat beside him.

"I mean, I knew you were unlucky, but this puts it on a whole new level." Alex finished before opening his can and took a sip.

"It's not my fault all my clients end up being fucking weird perverts!" Neo said as he recalled his latest client that he failed to make a contract with.

"I mean seriously you try keeping your head on straight when you get summoned by some roided out muscle head wearing a gothic dress and cat ears I'd love to see it." Neo said as he recalled his meeting with the entity known as Mil-tan, making him shiver as he took a sip from his drink.

"But it is your fault for getting too caught up watching anime to remember to get your pact." Alex added, causing Neo to facepalm.

"Yeah ok, that one's on me." Neo agreed.

"But still never thought you'd be interested in magical girls, isn't that stuff for kids?" Alex asked as he remembered Neo talking about the show he had watched briefly while giving his report in the club room.

"Three things Alex. First _Madoka Magica_ and Prisma Illya definitely aren't for kids. Second, it was either pay attention to that or the thing sitting next to me. And third, honestly I wasn't into it at first, but the action scenes weren't that bad, and it had a really good plot behind it." Neo said listing off his points.

"Humph. Whatever you say." Alex responded as the two were now back to their casual sipping.

"Hawaau!" A voice rang out accompanied by the sound of something hitting the ground.

""Hmm?"" Both teens looked to the direction of the voice and found the cause to be a nun who had seemed to have fallen.

Both teens just stared at the scene for a few seconds noticing the nun seemed to make no effort to get up. They then looked around, seeing no other people currently in the park with them.

"Not it." Neo says as he quickly jabs Alex's arm with his elbow.

"Agh! Dammit." Alex curses as he rubs his arm. "Dick." Alex remarks as he gets up from the bench and walks to the fallen Sister who had still not moved.

"...Um hey, are you okay do you need help getting up." Alex says awkwardly as he stretches out his hand in assistance.

"Auu. Why do I keep on tripping over… Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you very much." The nun said as she took his hand. Alex could tell from her voice that she was young, probably around his age.

Suddenly a sharp gust of wind blows and knocks the Sister's veil off letting Alex see what lies beneath.

She was a beautiful girl with straight blonde hair that went down to her back and green eyes.

Alex couldn't help but be captivated by the foreign girl. Outside of his father and the members of the club, Alex hadn't met many foreigners since he and his dad came to Kuoh.

He didn't know why but seeing this girl reminded him of his old life before coming to Japan.

"U-Umm…is something wrong…?" The Sister asks with a worried expression snapping Alex out of his trance.

'D-dammit I was staring like a creeper!' Alex thought as he tried to think of something to say as he notices the traveling bag she wore over her shoulder. "You don't look like you're from around here you doing some traveling?"

"No, that's not it. I was appointed to the Church in this town… You must be a resident here. It's a pleasure to meet you." She says as she bows her head.

"Ah, same to you." Alex returned her greeting.

'Weird the only church around here is the one on the outskirts of town, and Neo told me that things been run down ever since he was little. Are they reopening or something?' Alex thought.

The sound of footsteps alerted the two blondes and looking back, Alex saw it was Neo carrying in is hand the Sister's veil.

"This yours?" Neo asked as he held out the veil.

"Ah, thank you." Neo handed the blonde nun the veil, which she took with a bright smile.

"Ah this guy is my friend, don't worry he may seem rough but he doesn't bite. Well, much." Alex said, albeit a little quieter on the latter part.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you." The nun said with another bright smile.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I have caused. Ummm…I can't speak Japanese that well…I was lost, and other people couldn't understand what I was saying…" The nun said as she holds her hands together in front of her chest with a sad expression.

Neo and Alex gave each other a glance as they realized why they were able to understand the girl.

Rias had informed them that one of their powers as Devils is "Language" which essentially worked as a universal translator allowing people to hear what they say in the language they are most familiar with and vice versa.

"Anyways where were you trying to go in the first place?" Neo asked the girl.

"Oh, I was appointed to the church in this town." The Nun replied.

Hearing this Neo thought recalled his encounter with the Blonde Lolita he saved and escorted.

'Huh what was her name again.' Neo thought.

"Well hey, we can take you to the church if you want." Alex offered. "I mean we're not doing anything at the moment right?" Alex looked to Neo, who glanced at the nun staring at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Haahh, fine I'm not doing anything anyways." Neo accepted with a sigh.

"T-Thank you~! This is all thanks to God!" She says with a smile as tears flow down her eyes.

Neo turned his head and rolled his eyes at her statement; it was a gesture not caught by the nun. However it didn't go unnoticed by Alex.

He decided to leave the gesture alone and instead focused back to the Sister. As he did, his eyes came to the Rosario from around her chest and felt an extremely adverse reaction from it.

'Gh, well I guess that's to be expected since I'm a Devil now, I probably shouldn't get too involved with her after this, but it shouldn't be too bad if we help her to this extent.' Alex thought to himself.

And so the trio made their way to the church with Neo and Alex taking the lead and the Sister behind them.

Just as the group was about to walk out of the park, the scream of a young boy caught their attention.

"Are you alright Yosh-kun?" The boy named Yosh-kun seemed to have fallen and scraped his knee. Luckily the boy's mother appeared to have the situation under control.

Neo and Alex were about to move along before they noticed that the Sister was walking towards the two.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Alex called out. However he got no response which caused him to follow with Neo doing the same.

"Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry with a minor injury like this." The blonde-haired nun said as she petted the boy's head gently with a warm smile.

He seemed not to understand what the girl was saying but seemed to trust her due to her kind expression. The Sister then placed her palm on the boy's injured knee.

"What she doing?" Alex looked to Neo as the two watched the scene play out.

"Don't know but pay attention and we might find out." Neo said as he watched the nun.

Alex, Neo, and the boy's mother looked in shock as a green orb of light appears from the Sister's palm and is flashing onto the boy's knee. The two boys, however, were in shock of the situation while the mother was dumbfounded.

The two first thought the spectacle was demonic power but dismissed it as she was a nun and was wearing a cross. Looking closer, the two could see the boys wound seems to vanish.

"Gh"

"Ngh"

The two boys grunt as they feel an ache in their right arm and hand respectively as they look at the light giving the two their answer.

"Hey, Alex, did you feel that." Neo whispers.

"Yeah, so this means she has a sacred gear right." Alex confirms.

"Here, your wounds are healed. The pain should be gone now." The Sister said as she patted the boy on the head again.

The boy's mother, who was in shock before, shakes her head before she grabs the boys hand to walk away quickly.

"Ah, thank you, Onee-chan!" Yosh-kun said cheerfully as he waved back to the blonde girl while walking off with his mother.

The nun didn't seem to understand what the boy had said. "He said, thank you, big sister." Alex translated, causing the nun to give a bright smile.

Neo more overcome with curiosity then said to the nun."Hey, that power you used..."

"Yes, it's the power to heal. It's an incredible power given to me by God." The nun said with a smile, though it seemed to contain sadness which seemed to delve into something darker.

The two devils thought it was in the nun's best interest to not intrude upon bad memories as the group began their trip to the church once more.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking the group reached the church.

***CHILLS CHILLS CHILLS***

The two Devils couldn't help but sweat as they laid eyes upon a building marked as their sworn enemies territory.

Alex pushing aside his nervousness, took notice of the lights inside of the church showing that the old building was indeed occupied.

"Yes, this is the place! I'm so glad."

The nun shows a sigh of relief after having compared the location with the map she has.

With her confirmation, the two Devils prepared to set off from the church as their bodies refused to stop shaking.

"Well, we will be leaving now." Alex says farewell for both of them as the two attempts to leave.

"Please wait!"

The two boys hear a sudden shout from the blonde nun, which stops them in their place.

"I would like to make you some tea as gratitude for taking me here…" The nun says as she seems troubled by the boy's attempt to leave.

Alex tried to come up with a way to let her down gently, but Neo decides to step in instead. "Sorry but we have something to do, so we can't stay."

"…But that's…" The nun gives a saddened look as her chance to show her gratitude gets shot down.

Alex rubbed his neck as he thought of a way to cheer up the saddened girl. "Well just because we can't stay doesn't mean we'll never see each other again, right?" Alex said which catches the girls attention.

"We forgot to do them before, but I'm Alexander Volt, please just call me Alex. What's yours?" Alex introduces himself before asking the nun her name.

"My name is Asia Argento! Please call me Asia!" Asia says with a bright smile.

"Well, then Asia if the two of us happen to meet up I'll gladly show you around town. Us outsiders gotta stick together right?" Alex said with a grin as Asia felt tears well up in her eyes.

But before she was overcome with emotion, she remembered that Neo had yet to introduce himself and turned to him.

Neo wasn't particularly fond of giving the girl his name but seeing her cute and hopeful expression he relented. "Neo Kanburu. Just call me Neo."

"Yes! Alex-san, Neo-san thank you so much! I'll make sure to come to see you both!" Asia bows as the two boys leave the church watching the two until they fell out of her sight.

Once they were far enough away, Neo let out a sigh before speaking to Alex. "Well Alex, you and your fuckboy charm has gotten us into another mess once again."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Alex questioned as he raised his brow.

"I mean how you just got yourself more involved with that nun than you should've." Neo clarified.

"I don't see a problem with that, Asia doesn't seem like a bad person I mean she couldn't hurt a fly." Alex said, waving the problem aside.

"It doesn't matter if she wouldn't hurt people. What's important is that she's a member of the church and on top of that has a Sacred Gear with healing powers. Meaning she is a threat." Neo said which made Alex grow tense.

"So you're saying she could be an enemy in the future?" Alex asked to which Neo nodded.

Alex hadn't thought of that possibility and the revelation, making him guess if his actions were correct or not.

Seeing this, Neo decided it would be best for his friend did not question his kindness as he brought a different subject to mind.

"Well if I were you I would worry less about that and more about what Rias will do when she finds out we made contact with a member of the church." Neo said with a sigh as he already predicted the annoying lecture he'd receive.

Alex's eyes went wide with fear as he realized his predicament.

"Aw shit."

* * *

It was the next day in the Occult Research Club, and as Neo predicted, Rias was expectantly agitated by the news she had received.

"You two must never get close to the church again." Rias scolded with a serious expression.

Alex and Neo stared at her with confused expressions, not understanding the seriousness of her order.

"To us Devils, the Church is enemy territory. Just stepping into it can cause a rift between the Devils and God. Since it was an act of kindness by taking the nun to the Church, they didn't harm you, but the Angels are always on the lookout. You two were in a situation where it wouldn't be strange for them to hit you with a spear of light." Rias explained.

Alex and Neo were surprised by the severity of the situation they were in as they recalled the chilling sensation they felt at church.

"Don't get involved with people from the Church. Especially the Exorcists whose powers are supported by the prayer of God, this is especially true for an Exorcist with a Sacred Gear, that would be the same as standing on the boundary of death, Neo, Alex" Rias said with a serious look which also seemed to hold concern.

"O-okay." Alex said in a sad tone as he thought to his earlier interactions with Asia

"You both were able to avoid deaths as humans by being resurrected as a Devils, but Devils who are exorcised will be completely terminated. There is nothing left, and you feel nothing. Do you both know how serious that is?" Rias said in a concerned tone.

Rias realizes how emotional she became and shakes her head. "I'm sorry I got too heated. Anyways, be careful from now on."

"Ara ara, did you finish lecturing them?" Akeno suddenly questions as she appears behind the two making no sound.

"Akeno, did something happen?" Rias asks as she notices Akeno's expression was more serious than usual.

"We received an order for a hunt from the Arch Duke." Akeno says.

Upon hearing this, Rias' face became serious while Alex and Neo looked on in confusion.

"I see, Akeno call Kiba and Koneko and tell them to come back so we may depart." Rias ordered before turning to Neo and Alex.

"You two prepare as well, it's time you two see how Devils fight."

* * *

All the members of the Occult Research Club were heading in the direction of an abandoned building on the outskirts of Kuoh town, and in that time, Rias had explained the concept of a Stray Devil.

After a human is reincarnated into a Devil, they obtain enormous power that far surpasses what they had when they were human. There are some cases, however, where a servant will go insane with that power and use it to either kill or betray their masters for their own interest and will then wreak havoc at different locations.

And so if they are found, strays are to be eliminated by their masters or someone else.

In this particular case, the Stray Devil has been luring humans to this place to feed on them, and since it is in Rias' territory, a High-Class Devil requested she hunt it for them.

Once the group entered the building, the group was washed over with a wave of killing intent.

"…Smells of blood." Koneko says as she covers her nose with her uniform.

"Neo, Alex it's time I will explain to you the traits of servants." Rias said to the two who gave her a confused look.

"As I said before a long time ago, there was a war between Devils, the Fallen Angels, and God with his angel followers. They fought almost endlessly, and as a result, all three sides lost most of their troops, and the war finished several hundred years ago with no side winning." Rias explained.

"Afterward, it was decided that the current pure-blood Devils should command a small group using the traits of the human's game "Chess" as a reference to create the [Evil Piece System].

""Evil Piece?"" Neo and Alex questioned.

"This system was created within the past few hundred years, and has unexpectedly become popular amongst Devils with a peerage."

"What do you mean by popular." Alex questions.

"They started to compete with each other. As a result, High-class Devils started to play a game like that of Chess against each other using their Servant Devils. We call it the "Rating Game." Anyway, this game has become very popular amongst the Devils that there are even tournaments for it. The strength of their [Pieces] and also how strong they are at the game affects a Devils' social position and their peerage." Rias explained to Neo and Alex.

Hearing her explanation, Neo asked Rias a question that popped into his mind. "Hold up a second, since we're your servants doesn't that mean we're gonna have to compete in one of these Rating Games too."

"No I'm not a matured Devil yet, so I can't participate in the official tournament. Even if I could, there are things that I need to go through, or else I can't play." Rias explained.

After hearing the different pieces, Alex asked a question of his own. "Hey Buchou, so what are our roles and traits? Also, what pieces are we?"

"Alex, you're—" Rias was about to speak before stopping as a sudden chill ran across the group as the intent to kill became stronger than before, meaning that the threat was approaching them.

"I can smell something disgusting, but also something delicious. Is it sweet, or is it sour?" A low, threatening voice resounds through the building.

"Stray Devil Viser. We're here to eliminate you." Rias said.

"Ketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketa…" The Stray lets out an abnormal laughter.

From the shadows, a topless woman appears floating in the air with two spears in her hands. However, following her were the sounds of giant footsteps and what came into view was the lower half of a gigantic beast, added with the human upper half the Stray measured to five meters tall.

"What... the...fuck." Neo said taken aback by the grotesque creature in front of him.

"We have to fight that thing. And also why isn't she wearing a shirt?" Alex said with the latter part being an attempt to distract himself from his fear.

"Leaving your master's side and rampaging as you please definitely deserves death. In the name of Duke Gremory, I will gladly eliminate you!" Rias proclaims.

"You're cunning for a little girrrrrl! I'll rip your body, and dye it red just like your haaaaaaair!" The monster barks back.

Rias laughs off the threat. "Grunts sure do speak stylishly. Yuuto!"

"Yes!"

***SWOOF!***

In response to Rias' call, Kiba sprints ahead to the monster at a speed which Neo and Alex couldn't follow.

"Neo, Alex I will continue the lecture from before." Rias says calmly.

"Yuuto position is a [Knight]. Those who become a [Knight] have their speed increased." Rias explained to the two as Kiba increased his speed, eventually vanishing from their sights.

The Stray tried to use its spear to strike him; however, the spear would never find it's target.

"And his ultimate weapon...the sword."

Kiba stopped in front of Viser with his hand on the European sword sheathed at his hip as he unsheathed it the moonlight reflected off the drawn blade.

***ZING!***

Kiba vanished once more and in the next moment, both the arms of Viser had been sliced off along with her spears as large amounts of blood spewed from the monster's wounds.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Viser shrieked in pain as Neo and Alex looked on astonished by the feat.

"Ok, so that's badass." Alex replied.

"This is a specialty of Yuuto's. Speed unable to be followed with your eyes, and the sword skills of a professional. By combining these two skills, Yuuto becomes the fastest Knight." Rias explained to the boys.

Yuuto later reappeared near them using his enhanced speed before turning back to the group. "Sorry for the delay but I think I weakened her quite a bit." Kiba said with his same smile.

Neo had a blank expression as he looked at the Kiba. 'God we get it your cool you don't have to suck your dick about it.'

Koneko begins walking towards the monster, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

"Next is Koneko. She's a [Rook]. Those who become a [Rook] gain—" Rias was about to finish her sentence but was rudely cut off by the creature in front of them.

"Damn inseeeeeeeeect!"

***STOMP!***

The enormous monster tries to stomp on Koneko as her figure was almost completely obscured by its massive foot.

However, this was short-lived as Viser's enormous foot began to be lifted, revealing that Koneko was holding it up.

"Those who become a [Rook] gain absolute strength, as well as a very high defense. A Devil with that caliber can't stomp on Koneko." Rias explained as the two new Devils were astonished once again.

"…Fly" Koneko says as she casually tosses Viser into the air, she leaps at the Stray and follows up with a powerful punch to the monster's stomach.

***BANG!***

The monster's body makes a loud slam as it falls backward.

Neo begins to sweat as he recalled what his client Morisawa had said about Koneko's strength. "Holy shit when he said strong I didn't know he meant she was the fucking Hulk!" Neo shouted in remark to Koneko's strength.

"Lastly, Akeno." Rias said as she looked to Akeno, who stepped up in response.

"Yes, Buchou. Ara ara, what should I do?" Akeno says with a laugh as she approaches the fallen Stray.

"Akeno is a [Queen], the strongest one after me. She's the unbeatable Vice-president of our club who has all the traits of a [Knight], [Bishop], and [Rook]." Rias explained.

"Guuuuuu…!" Viser stares at Akeno who responds with a fearless laugh after seeing the monster's gaze.

"Ara ara, seems like you still have a bit of fight left in you. Then how about this?" Akeno puts her hands towards the sky.

Soon after the sky began to spark, and a lightning bolt struck down on the monster.

***FLASH!***

"Gagagagagagagagagagagagaaa!" Viser roars in pain as her entire body gets burned and smoking from the violent electrocution.

"Ara ara, looks like you still have some energy in you, you can take more." Akeno said as she prepares another attack.

***FLASH!***

Another lightning bolt struck the monster who at this point, sounded as if it was already beginning to die.

Even so, Akeno calls down a third lightning strike down onto the creature.

A creepy smile formed on Akeno's face as she continued her assault on the creature.

"Akeno excels at attacks using demonic powers. She can use natural elements like lightning, ice, and fire, and most of all, she's the ultimate sadist." Rias confessed.

Neo and Alex looked at the scene with mixed expressions of awe and fear.

"Usually, she's very kind, but once the battle starts, she won't stop until she calms down." Rias said with a wry smile.

Upon hearing this, Alex couldn't help but grin as he looked to Neo, who quickly turned away in response.

"Yeah, I think I know someone who's pretty similar to that." Alex said with a smirk.

"You two don't have to be afraid, Akeno is very kind to comrades, so it's not a problem. She even said that she finds both of you cute. Next time, let her spoil you. She'll definitely hug you kindly."

"Ufufufufufufufu. How much of my lightning can you take? Right, monster-san? You still can't die yet, okay? The one who finishes you off will be my master. Ohohohohohohoho!" Akeno laughed sadistically as she continued to electrocute the monster.

"Yeah, she better not come anywhere near me." Neo said with a blank expression as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I don't know if I want to experience her spoiling when she acts like a psycho." Alex added as he rubbed his neck.

After a few minutes, Akeno stopped her attack on the monster and Rias steps forward standing in front of the defeated Stray.

"Any last words?" Rias asks.

"Kill me." Viser says as she accepts her fate.

"Then disappear." Rias said cruelly as she extends her hand as a gigantic black mass of demonic power shoots out from her palm.

***DON!***

The giant mass demonic power engulfs the Strays entire body as the creature's existence was reduced to oblivion.

After confirming the creature's demise, Rias lets out a sigh before she turns towards the members of the Occult Research Club.

"It's over, good work, everyone." Rias said causing the other club members to return to their casual states.

Neo and Alex couldn't help but be amazed by the groups overwhelming power as the two reflected upon themselves.

'Holy shit that was intense, they're all so powerful. Wonder when I'll be able to do cool shit like that as well." Alex thought to himself before remembering his previous question Rias had not yet answered.

"Hey Buchou, you still haven't answered my question."

"What is it." Rias turned to Alex.

"Well it's about my Piece... or I guess my role as your servant. What is it?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I'd like to know where I fit in as well." Neo also chimed in.

'Out of all the Pieces she described, she didn't mention the Bishop or Pawn yet. Either way, each piece seems to have it's own strong points so no matter what we are, it'll be beneficial.' Neo thought to himself before he looked to Alex, who seemed to be stressing over something.

'But knowing Alex, he's probably just hoping he doesn't end up a Pawn or something like that.' Neo let out a mental sigh as his predictions would soon be answered.

"Alex, you are a [Pawn] and Neo you are my second [Rook]." Rias said with a smile.

Hearing this, the two new Devils displayed very different reaction. While Neo, who was seemingly satisfied with his role, had a smirk on his face.

On the other hand, Alex had a scowl as he looked to Neo with spite and jealousy.

"Well, let's go home, everyone." Rias said as she and the other members of the Occult Research Club began leaving the abandoned factory with Neo and Alex at the rear.

Neo began walking before a hand gripped his shoulder.

"What the hell Alex let go of my shoulder." Neo said irritated by Alex's actions.

Alex stood there motionless as his hair covered his eyes, and he seemed to be shaken with anger.

"H-hey you okay bro?" Neo asked his friend in concern.

"Ok? No, I'm not ok. I'm not ok at all with this shit!." Alex said as his voice began escalating.

"This sucks ass why the hell do you get to be a super-strong [Rook], but I'm stuck as some bitch ass [Pawn]!" Alex cried.

Neo looked at Alex with a deadpan expression as he realized the problem and sighed. "Hey, Alex, have you ever actually played chess? Or for that matter, even know what a pawn is or does?"

To that, Alex put his hand on his chin in thought.

"Well I've never played the game, but pawns are regarded as the weakest pieces aren't they?" Alex questioned.

"Well you're not wrong but the pawns not as bad as you think." Neo said as he began walking towards the exit.

"Wait what? What does that even mean?" Alex asked in confusion.

"If you hop on League I'll tell you about it." Neo casually waved as he walked out of the building.

Alex was left alone in the factory with his confusion.

"Augh fine god dammit but you better explain yourself." He shouted as he chased after Neo thus ending the two's first "Stray Devil" hunt.

**END**

* * *

**Greetings everyone sorry for the delay on this chapter I wanted to get this out before the end of August but I was at a family reunion over the weekend. I'll try to get this out in the span of a month two so, please be patient until then. ****But hey in other news lets talk about the chapter.**

**So yeah I decided to make Neo a Rook. I had three decisions to make about Neo and Alex's positions and this was the one I chose. The other two were either making Alex a Mutation Knight and Neo a Rook, or make Neo a Mutation Pawn and Alex take up 7 Pawn pieces. I felt more comfortable with the first one because I wouldn't have to make Rias seem more broken than she is in the cannon version and because I feel the two characters could use the Pieces assigned to them with good proficiency.**

**Now for anyone wondering about where this leaves ****Rossweisse. I still plan on having her around, but as for who's Harem she will be apart of, as well as Neo and Alex's harems, in general, I'm not decided on all the girls yet so if you have an opinion I'd appreciate it if you leave a comment as I'm open to different opinions and discussions.**

**Well that's all from me thank you all for reading and please continue to read and review.**


	4. Returning a Favor

**Notice: I am changing the color of Neo's Sacred Gear. The reason I'm doing this is because I finally got permission I needed from another fanfiction writer to implement a concept I really like. Anyways enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Neo sat at the desk in his room as he concentrated on the game he was playing.

"Dammit, why the hell is this Mordkaiser so strong." Neo said as the character he was playing, a spartan helmeted warrior dressed in full plated dragon-themed armor, wielding a spear and large shield collapsed to the ground signaling his death.

"It's cause are damn top laner kept feeding him." Alex sighed as he was busy killing a blue golem with his character that looked like a Chinese themed woman with black hair and large jade green gauntlets shaped like demons.

The game the two were playing was a popular MOBA named League of Legends. Alex and Neo had been playing the game for a year and frequently played together at night while talking about different topics.

Tonight, however, the two were discussing what Neo had mentioned in the fight with the Stray Devil named Viser.

"Essentially, in chess, a pawn has the power to promote to any other piece, minus the king." Neo explained as his character respawned.

"But if that's the case, why didn't Rias explain that to me earlier?" Alex asked.

"No clue, but if I had to guess, I'd say that she likes explaining things last minute for dramatic effect." Neo said as he walked out of the base to defend a tower that was currently under siege by minions.

"Hm makes sense when you think about it, oh, buy the way their taking Baron." Alex said calmly as he was clearing minions in the lane left of Neo.

"Sigh, shit. Welp, this game is fucked." Neo sighed as he made a surrender vote for what felt like the fifth time.

However, like the other four times the rest of his team minus Alex declined so they had to continue playing until for another twenty minutes before the enemy team finally won.

* * *

"Forty fucking minutes just to lose the damn game. Talk about a waste of time." Neo sighed as he reclined in his chair.

"Agreed. Anyways I'm about to go to sleep. See ya, tomorrow bro." Alex said with a yawn.

"Okay, see ya tomorrow. Bones." Neo replied.

"Bones." Alex repeated as he cut the voice call.

Now that he was alone, Neo got up from his chair and walked into his kitchen, where on the table lay a brick, an old steel pipe, and a thick piece of wood he found on his way home.

Walking over to the items he picked up the pipe and thought back to the answer he received from Rias about his question on how to use his [Rook] powers.

"According to Rias, all I have to do is imagine myself with incredible strength, or iron skin, and the power will activate." Neo said as he closed his eyes and concentrated.

Concentrating, Neo recalled the incredible display power he witnessed from Koneko As he overlaid himself with the image in his mind. Once his mental preparations were complete, Neo attempted to bend the pipe, finding no resistance as he did so.

Neo smiled as he opened his eyes and confirmed the pipe was bent.

"Finally, this Devil shit is starting to get interesting." Neo said as he set down the pipe he just bent.

Before he continued with his test, Neo curiously looked at his right hand.

"Sacred Gear!" Neo shouted as he brought forth his Sacred Gear looking at it curiously.

"Well despite how it looks, Rias said it was important so I might as well test this out too." Neo said to himself as begain his training to unlock his Sacred Gear's power.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alex lay down on his bed, looking towards the ceiling with a solemn look on his face.

'Damn even with the possibility of a promotion power, I still have the weakest role out of all the other pieces.' Alex sighed to himself as he thought over his role.

"Not to mention, unlike the other pieces, there are 8 pawns in total, so I'm not even that unique as a piece. Then again, I guess I never really was too begin with." Alex said to himself bitterly as he recalled the display of strength his fellow devils showed him.

"All those guys were incredibly powerful, and even before becoming a Devil, Neo was a badass delinquent. Compared to them, of course, I don't stand out much." Alex said with a sigh.

"Aaaah this shit isn't getting me anywhere I'll save thinking about all this crap for tomorrow." Alex said with a stretch as he prepared for bed.

* * *

"Neo didn't show up?" Alex asked Rias, who had an agitated expression on his face.

"Yes, and as well as failing to attend our club meeting, he also didn't come to school today. I tried contacting him, but he didn't respond." Rias said with a worried expression.

"Ahh, well, I mean, it's not really uncommon for Neo to skip school every now and then. And I'm sure he probably just got caught up in something, so please let it slide." Alex asked with a bow as Rias made a small smile.

"Very well, if you insist that much I suppose I'll forgive his absence. So are you prepared to make a contract?" Rias said as she decided to move past the subject.

"Always." Alex replied with a confident smile.

"Good, then be on your way." Rias said as Aken finished preparing the Magic circle.

"Okay." Alex said as he walked into the circle and began teleporting to the client's location.

* * *

Once the teleportation was finished, Alex found himself in the middle of a dark hallway with a staircase leading to the second floor to his right.

Looking back, Alex noticed that he was by the front door and could see upon closer inspection that it was open.

Who the hell leaves their door wide open, and where the hell is the summoning paper.' Alex thought to himself as he looked down to see the summoning paper was wrinkled on the ground.

"Okay, this is getting kinda creepy." Alex said to himself as his heartbeat began to quicken from the awkward tension.

Looking ahead, Alex noticed a room at the end of the first floor illuminated by a faint light and decided against his better judgment to head towards it.

'Whatever. I'll just get this job done as fast as possible and then get the hell out.' Alex thought to himself as he took off his shoes while carrying them in his hands.

Once he got to the door, he peeked through the cracked door and saw that the source of light came from candles.

"Um, hey. I'm a Devil from the Gremory household, is the client that summoned me here." Alex asked but heard no response from the other side.

'Welp guess I'll just go in.' Alex thought as he entered the room.

Entering the room, Alex was met with a revolting smell and a sight that caused him to go pale with terror even more so than in his encounter with the Stray Devil.

Hanging upside down on the room's wall was the mutilated body of a man with multiple vicious cuts across his body and even seemed to have been gutted as his entrails laid barren, causing his blood to spill across the floor in various directions. Upon closer inspection, the man seemed to be suspended by big, thick screws nailed into his hands, feet, and torso in the form of an upside-down cross and a strange message written in blood.

"Wh-what the fuck is this shit!?" Alex said as his whole body shook in fear as he attempted to hold in his vomit.

"It's written as "Punishment for those who did bad deeds!". I just borrowed the sentence from someone important." Said the voice of a young male causing Alex to turn around quickly.

Walking into the room was a foreign young man around Alex's age dressed in the clothing of a priest and had white hair and red eyes.

Once Alex and the priest locked eyes, the priest makes a sadistic evil grin before speaking. "Hmm, hmm. Well, well, if it isn't a Devil-kun!"

Alex recalled what Rias said to him and Neo the previous night as he began to slowly back away…

"—Don't get involved with people from the Church. Especially the Exorcists. They are our biggest enemy. They can easily eliminate us because their powers are supported by the prayer of God."

'Fuck fuck fuck! This is bad, this is really fucking bad!' Alex thought as his heart pounded in his chest as the priest began approaching him in an almost dance-like manner.

"I'm a priest~ A boy priest~ I cut down devil-like people~, and I laugh at them~ I cut the head of you Devils, and receive my meal~ " The priest sang happily sending chills down Alex's spin.

"What the fuck, this dude's a fuckin psychopath.' Alex thought as the priest continued to approach him while Alex backed further away, not caring that his feet were stepping in a pool of blood.

"My name is Freed Sellzen. I belong to a certain Exorcism organisation." The priest said as he took a step back, putting Alex on high alert. "Ah, just because I introduced myself doesn't mean you have to. I don't want to remember your name in my memory, so please don't. It's okay since you are going to die soon. I will make sure of it. It might hurt at first, but later you will feel so good that you will cry. Now let's open the new door -ZE!" Freed said with a psychotic grin.

Alex couldn't help but question the priest's sanity but decided to push that to the side to distract him.

"Well, nice to meet you psycho, but if you don't mind, could you tell me why you murdered this guy." Alex said as he pointed the sick display behind him.

"Yes, yes. I killed him. Because~, he was a regular criminal who has been summoning Devils, so I had to kill him." Freed answered as he made movements as if he was performing in a theater.

'What the hell kind of reasoning is that!?' Alex thought as he made a shocked expression.

"Huh? Are you shocked? Aren't you running away? That's weird? Really Weird. I mean, humans who make a pact with Devils are scum. Scum indeed. Can't you understand that? No? Is that so? Well, you are a scummy Devil, after all." Freed mocked Alex, which caused the former to scowl with anger.

"You call me a Devil scum, but what you did is just as morbid you sick fuck" Alex spat back as he stepped back one more time, having no more space to move as he hid his hands behind his back.

Hearing this, Freed stood still losing his chipper expression as his face scrunched into one of disgust and annoyance.

"Haaaaa? What the fuck is this? A mere Devil like you is lecturing me? Hahaha. How hilarious. You probably could become a Grade-A comedian with that shit. Okay then, listen carefully, you shitty Devil. Devils also use humans' greed to survive. Relying on a Devil proves that you are no longer a human. It's the end. That's why I killed him~. I make a living by killing Devils and those that are contracted to a Devil. That's my job."

"Like I said before, you fuckin psycho. Even a Devil wouldn't cross the line like you did you piece of shit." Alex spat as Freed looked at him with a hateful glare.

"Haa~~? What are you talking about? Devils are trash. Do you know they are a shitty existence? Do you know this is common sense? Didn't you know? Seriously, you should start your life back from a toddler. Wait, it's useless to tell this to a reincarnated Devil like you. More like, I have to kill you! Hahahaha. It's awesome, isn't it? It's the best, isn't it?" Freed laughed psychotically as he reached into his robe.

From it, he pulled out a bladeless hilt and a gun, causing Alex to become tense as he prepared to run. Seconds later, the air vibrated as a blade made of light sprouted from the hilt, which reminded Alex of a lightsaber.

"You kind of irritate me, so can I cut you? Can I shoot you? Is it OK? Okay then. Now I'm going to stab your heart with this blade of light, and I'm going to blow your head with this cool looking gun! Man, I'm seriously going to fall in love!" Freed roars as he rushes Alex.

Alex quickly unveiled his hands from his back, revealing his shoes that he tied together by the strings before quickly chucking them at Freed, similar to a bola.

"HAHAHA! That's it! What a pathetic trick, but what you would expect of a shitty Devil!" Fred laughed as he quickly dodged the pathetic assault.

'Gotta move!' Alex thought to himself as he dodged Freed's downward slash after rolling to the opposite end of the sofa in the room.

Alex crouched behind the sofa's arm as he tried to predict the psychotic priest's next move as well as figure out his own for escape.

***Voom!***

Freed, however, refused to give Alex time to think as he drove his blade of light into the place Alex was sitting. Luckily the latter managed to dodge the attack and now saw an opportunity to escape.

"He isn't blocking the door anymore now's my chance!' Alex began racing to the door before he suddenly felt his left leg give out on him.

"Wh-what the fu…Guaaaaaah!" Alex cried as he felt an intense pain in his left calf and noticed there was a bullet-shaped hole in it as well as a burning sensation he had never felt before.

"How is it!? The special bullet made for the Exorcists, the bullet of light! And it doesn't make any sound. Since its bullet of light. This situation turns both of us on, doesn't it?" Freed said gleefully as he licked the shaft of his gun.

'Shit, I'm so close. I was just shot in the leg, but it feels like my whole body is burning.' Alex thought as his face contorted in agony.

"Now die, die, Devil! Die Devil! Turn to dust and disappear! This is all for my entertainment!" Freed says as he prepares to finish Alex off.

"Please stop!" A female voice screamed, causing Freed to halt his attack.

Both Alex and the insane priest looked to the source of the voice, finding a distressed Asia looking back at them.

"Asia?" Alex said in confusion as he fought back the pain.

"Well, if it isn't my assistant, Asia-chan. What happened? Did you finish putting the barrier?" Freed asked as he returned to his cheery demeanor.

"! N-Noooooooo!" Asia didn't answer Freed's question as she, after seeing the mutilated corpse nailed to the wall, let out a loud scream.

"Thank you for the adorable scream! Oh yeah, this is your first time seeing a corpse like this, isn't it, Asia-chan? Then look carefully. We have the humans that are entranced by a Devil die like this." Freed said as he pointed the corpse with his light sword.

"…N-No…" Asia said in disbelief before looking at Alex with a shocked expression.

"…Father Freed…that person…" Asia said with a shakeup voice as she looked at Alex.

"Person?" Freed questioned as he looked to Alex before a grin formed on his face. "No, no. This shit here is a Devil. Hahaha, what are you misunderstanding?"

"—! Alex-san is a…Devil…?" Asia said to herself as Alex couldn't find anything to say.

"What, what? You guys know each other?" Freed said she looked between Alex and Asia before continuing. "Wow. Now, this is a big surprise. Is it the forbidden love between a Devil and a Sister? Seriously? Are you serious?"

"A-Asia listen. I-GAH!" Alex tried to speak to the nun but freed immediately, stomped on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"Aww, how precious the filthy Devil is trying to apologize for lying to the innocent maiden. Ahaha! It's so sappy I could puck!" Freed laughed as he ground his heel into Alex's stomach.

"Let me tell you this brat, Devils, and humans can never coexist! Especially humans from the Church and the Devils are the biggest enemies! Also, we are a group of heretics that was deserted by God. Asia-tan and I are humans that can't survive without the support of Fallen Angels-sama." Freed said as he lifted his foot as he got into a thrusting stance with his sword of light.

"Fallen Angels?" Alex grunted as he heard the familiar name once again. "So that means your working with Yuma and that ascot wearing asshole that killed me."

"Ding ding ding~! Correct kid! And for your prize, I'm gonna run my sword through your ugly demonic heart to kill your trashy existence so I can be done with this job, so here I come. Are you ready?" Freed asks as he thrusts his sword towards Alex.

However, Asia suddenly walks between Alex and the priest with her arms spread in a protective matter.

Seeing this, Freed grew a stern expression as he asks Asia about her intentions. "…Hey, hey. Are you serious? Asia-tan, do you know what you are doing?"

"…I do. Father Freed, I beg you. Please forgive this person. Please let him go." Asia pleads in a shaky yet resolute tone as Alex was rendered speechless by her act of selflessness and bravery.

"I can't stand it any more… You can't kill people just because they are entranced to a Devil, and you also can't kill Devils. It's wrong!" Asia lectured Freed as his expression changed from stern to enraged.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!? Don't talk shit, bitch! You also learned that Devils are trash at the Church! Seriously, is there something wrong with your brain!?" Freed argued back with an anguished expression.

"There are good people, even among Devils!" Asia retorted.

"There aren't, idiooooooot!" Freed shouts back.

"T-That's what I thought until recently… But Alex-san is a good person. That fact doesn't change even after I found out that he is a Devil! Killing someone is unforgivable! This kind of act! God won't allow such acts!" Asia said, not backing down.

That was when Alex noticed that at the mention of the name "God" Freed's face changed to genuine anger for the first time. It was one he had seen from Neo once before; however, Freed's was far more malicious, and it was directed entirely towards Asia.

***SMACK!***

"Kyaa!" Asia screamed as she was swept to the side after being hit by Freed with the butt of his gun.

"You son of a bitch!" Alex shouted as Freed seemed to ignore him instead of moving to Asia.

"…The Fallen Angel girl told me very strongly that I can't kill you. But I'm getting a bit pissed off," Freed said as he stood over Asia, the latter staring at him in a terrified manner before Freed wrapped his hand her neck and pinned her to a nearby wall. "Since I can't kill you, then maybe I should rape you or something? If I don't, I won't be able to heal my heart after you dared utter that bastard God's name in my presence." Freed said as he shoved his gun between her legs.

Alex's eyes widened in shock as he heard this before he grits his teeth in rage. Clenching his fist, he forced himself to stand despite the pain he felt in his calf.

"But before that, I need to kill that trash over there." Freed says as he turns around to see Alex glaring at him with a hateful look causing the priest to whistle with a happy look on his face

"Ohh? What a sexy look you're giving me Devil-kun~. I can tell you wanna murder me really bad now are you sure you seriously wanna fight me? You will die, you know? You will die with a lot of pain? I have no intention of killing you painlessly, okay?" Freed asked with an ecstatic expression on his face.

"I'm not gonna give you the chance you sick, demented, fuck. Sacred Gear!" Alex shouts as he summoned the red gauntlet that he awakened in the Occult Research Club room as he remembered what Rias said about drawing out the Sacred Gears powers.

"Oi! Sacred Gear! You're supposed to be drawn out by my emotions, right? If that's the case, then help me kill this fuckin priest!" Alex said in a dark and commanding tone as the jewel of his Sacred Gear begins glowing.

**[Boost!]**

Alex's body became enveloped in a red aura as he felt his power grow and a strange feeling of lightness in his body.

"What!" Freed shouted surprised by the Devil's sudden surge of strength as Alex pushed off the ground with his good leg, closing the distance between him and Freed.

***BAM!***

"AUGHH!" Freed let out a high pitched squeal as Alex bawled his gauntlet hand into a fist and drove it into Freed's groin with a powerful straight punch.

"URGH!"

***BAM!***

***CRASH!***

Alex forced himself to stand on his injured leg, muffling his scream as he followed up his previous attack by delivering a kick to Freed's side, sending him crashing into the bookshelf as it and several dozen books fell on top of him.

Alex stayed still in a defensive stance as Freed seemed not to move as his body twitched in place under the pile. Seeing his chance, Alex quickly limped over to Asia as best he could with his wounded leg.

Asia looked at Alex with a slightly intimidated expression as she thought of what to say. "A-Alex-san I'm-" But before she could finish speaking, Alex grabbed her by the hand and quickly left the room as he hurried with her to the front door.

"A-Alex-san, what are you doing!?" Asia asked as Alex led her out of the house with haste, not even stopping to get his shoes.

"Isn't it obvious I'm getting you away from that sick freak. I got shot in my leg, but thanks to my Sacred Gear, I'm managing to fight through the pain, but once it wears off, I'm done. We've got to put as much distance as possible between him and us, so just shut up and follow me." Alex said in a commanding tone as he tried quicking his pace, grunting with every step.

Seeing this, Asia moved under Alex's left side and began supporting him as he walked.

Alex looked at the girl with a surprised expression before turning to the side with a blush. "Thanks."

"It's no problem this is the least I can do since your going so far to help me." Asia replied with a smile as she and Alex continued to walk down the street escaping their encounter with the physcotic priest named Freed.

* * *

Alex and Asia were currently resting in an alleyway after the effects of Alex's power up wore off, and he could no longer withstand the pain.

"Fuck, it hurts!" Alex cried as he rested on an assortment of boxes stacked in the alleyway.

"Here, let me see the wound!" Asia said as she rolled up Alex's pants leg to examine his injury.

"—!" Asia couldn't help but hide her shock as the wound seemed to be emitting smoke, and the skin around it was turning a weird color.

"Is it really that bad?" Alex asked nervously as he saw Asia's expression.

"Don't worry, Alex-san. I'll heal you no matter what." Asia declared before summoning her Sacred Gear as a green light covered Alex's wound.

Upon closer inspection of the light, Alex noticed two silver rings with a blue-green gem on each ring.

Slowly the burning sensation he felt in his leg began to subside as the wound started to close.

'Amazing, it's just like with that kid in the park.' Alex thought as his leg was completely healed.

"There. Is the pain all gone?" Asia asked as she looked up at Alex.

"Yeah it is, thank you." Alex thanked her as he stood up, kicking the air with his leg.

"Amazing, it's good as new Asia." Alex said, causing Asia to give a small smile.

"It's no problem; after all, it's the least I can do for you." Asia said before sadly lowering her head. "After all, you got that injury because of the people I work with."

Hearing this, Alex rubbed his neck as he pondered what he should say in response.

'Well, it's not like she's wrong, but even still…' Alex's mind trailed off to the memory of when Asia had protected him.

"But even still, you saved my life, so I owe you one don't look into it too much." Alex said as he poked his head out the alleyway checking the surroundings before deciding it was safe.

He looked back and noticed that Asia seemed not to be following him and looked at her in confusion. "Hey, Asia, what's the hold up we gotta move."

"B-but if I continue to follow, you'll end up getting hurt. I'll be fine on my own, so you should just go on without me." Asia said as she gripped her habit tightly.

Alex stared at the girl with a deadpan expression as he remembered the girl's clumsiness and horrible sense of direction. 'Man, this girl is way too nice.'

Alex walked back into the ally and took Asia's hand into his own, and he led her into the street, albeit less forcefully than the last time.

"A-Alex-san!" Asia let out a surprised voice at the sudden move as her cheeks had a small tinge of pink.

"I already told you that I owe you one for saving my life, remember? And rescuing you from some rapist just to ditch you in a random ally isn't much of a return, so just let me help you." Alex said, looking back to Asia with a serious expression.

"B-but…" Asia began to argue but was cut off.

"Nope, no buts! I told you at the church that us outsiders gotta stick together, didn't I?" Alex said as Asia recalled their conversation at the church.

Tears began to form in her eyes as she began to swell with emotion from Alex's kindness.

"Thank you, Alex-san." Asia said, causing Alex to look away in embarrassment.

"Don't mention it." Alex rubbed his neck as his checks had a small tint of pink.

"Alex-san, where are we going?" Asia asked a question that had been on her mind since they left the house.

"Were going to go see a good friend of mind, well you've actually already met him. If there's anyone who can help us in a situation like this it's him. Well after he's done beating the shit out of me anyways." Alex said with a pale expression as he headed off in the direction of Neo's apartment.

* * *

"Haah...haah...haah." Neo painted as he crouched over in the living room of his apartment covered in sweat.

He wore a black tank top and a pair of black shorts and was staring down at his Sacred Gear.

"Hah...so...hah...my limit is...three times." Neo said in between his breaths.

"Haah, man, it sure is tiring after the third time though I feel like I just ran a marathon." Neo said as he got his breathing under control, walking into his kitchen to get something to drink.

Looking in his fridge, he found that it was lacking in the beverage department.

'Shit, I guess it's tap water then.' Neo thought as he headed over to the kitchen faucet before a sound caught his attention.

***KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!***

"?" Neo looked to his front door in confusion.

"Who the hell is it this late in the night.?" He thought before the knocking came again.

***KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!***

'Well, whoever they are, they sure like beating the shit out of my door.' Neo sighed as he walked to his front door and looked through the peephole finding Alex on the other side.

Unlocking the door, Neo faced Alex with a confused and annoyed expression. "Alex, why didn't you call me if you were coming over? And do you realize how late it is?" Neo questioned his friend.

"You have questions I have answers, but can I come inside first." Alex asked as he creepily looked to his sides.

"I mean, sure, but I don't have anything to drink so-"

"That's fine. Just let us in!" Alex said hastily.

"Us?" Neo repeated Alex's slip of the tongue as Alex cringed at his slip up.

"Alex, explain." Neo commanded.

"Ok, but you have to promise not to get mad, or beat me up." Alex said with Neo's response being a threatening glare telling Alex to hurry up.

With a sigh, he made a gesture as if calling someone over, and soon enough came the familiar blonde nun Neo and Alex had help guide to the church.

Neo looked back and forth between the two before folding his arms as his expression went dead. "I feel like whatever your about to tell me is definitely about to piss me off." Neo said as he gestured the two blondes inside.

* * *

Currently, Alex and Asia were sitting on Neo's living room couch while Neo stood in front of them arms crossed with a scowl on his face.

Alex had just informed him of his encounter with the psychotic priest Freed and the events that unfolded that led him to save Asia and bring her here with him.

"So, the plan is that we protect Asia here and come up with a way to beat those crow basterds." Alex explained.

Neo rubbed his temples as he tried to think of his reply. "Alex you seriously think that they're just gonna what, leave us alone just because we have some girl?"

"Hey just listen to me for a second." Alex held up a hand as Neo waited to hear more of his explanation.

"Before I knocked out that psycho priest, he said that he wasn't allowed to hurt Asia under orders of the Fallen Angels, so I was thinking…" Alex looked to Asia as if concerned for what he was about to say.

"You were thinking we could use her as a hostage." Neo said bluntly.

"Well...yeah." Alex said, feeling wrong about his plan to utilize Asia.

Neo rubbed his chin as he thought over the idea "Well since she was able to heal you, it means that her powers work on supernatural beings so I can understand why they wouldn't want someone so valuable to be put at risk. If we use that, we might have a chance." Neo said to himself as he thought over the idea.

"So you think we could make it work!" Alex perked up, looking hopefully to his friend.

"Maybe but first" Neo looked to Asia, who was surprised by the intensity of his gaze. "I wanna hear what she thinks about this situation."

"M-me? Well, I...don't really know what to say." Asia said with a nervous voice.

"Well that isn't good enough." Neo said surprising the girl.

"You realize that we're putting our lives on the line helping you right? I don't know what Alex's intentions are, but if it comes down to us getting killed or you getting turned over, I plan on doing the ladder. I'm asking that as a hostage, are you prepared for a worst-case scenario like that?" Neo asked, causing the two blondes to go silent as they thought over his words.

"You think it could come to that?" Alex asked.

"Those bastards killed us as humans just because we could have been potential threats to them, and it seems their priest lackeys don't follow too far behind in the senseless murder department. I doubt they'd find it much trouble to do it again." Neo answered.

"You have a point." Alex agreed.

"I don't mind." Asia said, drawing the two boys' attention.

"You both are going so far and are taking so many risks to help me; the last thing I´d want is for you two to get hurt in the process, so if you have to please...save yourselves." Asia said with a reassuring smile.

Neo found himself caught off guard by the girl's selfless nature before he let out a defeated sigh.

"Phew... well, if your willing to go that far, I guess we can help you out." Neo said with a sigh.

"Awesome that's my bro!" Alex said with a smirk.

"Whatever, any way you two need to take a shower, you reek of sweat and blood. I'll go look for some sheets and spar clothes but don't expect much. Alex show her where my towels are." Neo said as he waved them off as he walked off to his room.

"W-wow." Asia said as she watched Neo walk away.

"What?" Alex asked in response.

"O-oh sorry it's just that even though you asked him to do something so dangerous, he never considered turning you away or trying to talk you out of it." Asia said amazed by the trust that Neo and Alex had.

"Well yeah, that's what best friends are for, aren't they? Now come on your taking a shower first I'll show you where the towels are." Alex said as he began walking through the apartment.

'Friends huh.' Asia repeated the word which held a forign meaning to her as she silently followed.

* * *

It was the next morning, and Neo was asleep in his bed; however, he began to rouse from his sleep when he noticed peculiar smell drift around his apartment.

"Sniff, sniff. Who's cooking." Neo said, half asleep as he slowly rose from his bed.

He noticed Alex, who had slept on his floor with the spar sheets Neo provided, was also gone and decided to check things out as he put on his morning wear, which consisted of a black t-shirt and a pair of black shorts.

Walking out of his room and into his kitchen, he found Alex and Asia who seemed to have made themselves at home in his wardrobe as Alex, who was sitting at his kitchen table, was wearing a grey jumpsuit, which was clearly too big for his smaller frame.

"Oh sure guys, you can rummage through my shit while I sleep no problem." Neo said sarcastically as Alex rolled his eyes.

"Dude, what else were we supposed to wear while our clothes are drying plus my pants had bloodstains." Alex argued as he ruffled his baggy clothing in discomfort. "Not to mention, I would never wear your baggy ass shit unless I had to."

"Mhm, and what about her." Neo said as he pointed to Asia, who was cooking bacon over his stove. Her only piece of clothing was a black t-shirt that went down to her knees with the large shirt sliding off her shoulder constantly in an erotic manner.

Neo gave a blank expression as he waited to hear Alex's response. "Ehh it's hot." Alex said with a perverted grin.

"Of course." Neo said in a monotone way not shocked by Alex showing his perverse side.

"Ok Alex the food is-Oh! Neo, I didn't see you come in." Asia said surprised to see the red-haired teen at the table.

"How did you not hear me? I even had a whole conversation while you were cooking." Neo said confused as Asia blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"Well...you see I´m so clumsy so whenever I cook using a stove I have to focus really hard or else I might burn things." Asia said as she pressed her pointer fingers together.

"Oh, so like your doing right now." Neo said as he caught a whiff of a faint burning smell.

"Aaaaii!" Asia yelped as she quickly turned around to tend to the stove.

"So anyway, what's the game plan for today?" Alex asked as he ignored Asia's situation.

"Honestly I have no clue. I was thinking of just holding up here but maybe something will come along." Neo said as he leaned back in his chair.

***KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!***

"Oh my fucking- what do people want with me today." Neo groaned as he was tired of greeting people.

"I can get it." Alex volunteered as he began to get up before Neo put a hand up to stop him.

"Nah, it's fine." Neo sighed as he walked to his front door.

"Whoever you are, I hope you realize it's really early to be knocking on people's doors and...aw shit." Neo's attitude changed as he opened his door and found Rias on the other side, giving him a faint smile.

"Hi Ne-"

***SLAM!***

Neo immediately slammed the door cutting Rias off as he massaged his temples.

"Neo whats wrong?" Alex walked over confused by the red-haired teen's despondency.

"It's Rias." Neo said with a sigh as Alex's face went pale.

"And you slammed the door in her face. Are you fucking insane!?" Alex whispered.

"And what the fuck was I supposed to do? Let her in while were housing a fucking fugitive great plan!" Neo retorted as he and Alex began stressing out.

***KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!***

"Shit, what do I do?" Neo asked Alex.

"Just, play it cool and I'll see what to do about Asia." Alex said as Neo nodded.

Turning around Neo cracked open the door enough to fit his head through and meets the gaze of a now pissed off Rias.

"Hey, Red how you been?" Neo said, managing to hide his panic.

Rias simply stared back at him, probably thinking of what to say in response to Neo's rude greeting but decided to drop it. "Neo where's Alex?"

"!" Neo's eyes widened slightly as he didn't expect that to be her topic of discussion.

'I thought she came to get on me cause I skipped a day, why is she looking for Alex?' Neo questioned as he recomposed himself.

"Why would I know where he is, just check his house or something." Neo replied as he attempted to close his door before Rias jammed her foot in the way.

"Did you know Alex had a contract last night?" Rias said in a tone that didn't sound like she was asking a question.

"..No. Why the hell would it matter?" Neo asked not seeing where she was getting at.

"Because there happens to be an issue with the contract, the others and I teleported to help, but when we got their Alex was gone." Rias explained the story that Neo already knew.

He was about to interject, but Rias seemed to have more to say as she continued her story, "Interestingly, the house where the incident happened and your apartment happen to be not far apart from one another."

"Rias come on that's not a good enough reason to suspect he's here just because it's close." Neo said, trying his hardest to convince her without giving anything away.

"Really cause I doubt he could go far without his shoes." Rias said before reaching into the bag she was carrying and revealed a pair of skate shoes that Alex frequently wore.

"So are you gonna make more excuses, or are you going to let me in?" Rias asked however, her words carried a more commanding tone.

'Things might get bad if I refuse her anymore, as long as we hide Asia I guess I can still slip by.' Neo thought as he reluctantly opened the door letting Rias walk in as he closed the door behind them.

"Alex come out! She already knows, might as well take it like a man." Neo shouted as he and Rias waited in the living room.

Slowly Alex emerged from Neo's living room and met face to face with his master. "Hi Buchou, what are you doing here."

"I could ask you the same thing Alex? Why didn't you contact anyone last night after you escaped!" Rias said shocking the two boys by her worried tone.

Alex intentionally didn't contact Rias about his run-in with the priest because he knew she wouldn't approve that he brought Asia with him. Still, he never thought she would be so worried about him.

"My bad, I didn't think it was that big of a deal, I made it out safe didnt I?" Alex said averting his gaze as guilt welled up in his chest.

"It was most certainly a big deal Alex when we got to the house and found no trace of you. I thought you had been kidnapped or even worse killed." Rias said in a stern tone.

He was surprised to find out Rias was so concerned with his well-being making him feel even worse that he was hiding things from her.

"Oh.." He said aloud not knowing what to say to the upset Rias before Neo interjected.

"Look Rias, Alex is sorry he didn't call you but cut the guy some slack he dragged his way back here with a bloody leg I doubt the first thing on his mind was checking in you." Neo said telling Rias a portion of the truth to cover for Alex.

"Well, from now on you need to always tell me or someone else of the household when a situation arises. You both are members of the Gremory family now and that comes with the responsibility." Rias lectured, however, her tone seemed to have softened.

Finally, the storm of conflict seemed to be passing as the boys managed to avoid their secret begin uncovered by Rias.

"On another note..."

"Aiigh!"

***CRASH!***

As Rias was about to speak she was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the kitchen followed by a short shriek that was obviously feminine.

Even though the silence couldn't have lasted for more than a few seconds for the boys it felt like an hour had passed.

"Who was that." Rias said as she glared at the two new devils.

"...Fuck, well I guess that's that, I'll leave you to explain this one Alex." Neo said throwing Alex entirely under the bus as he looked away with a disinterested look.

Before Alex could even argue back, Rias turned towards him with a chilling smile. "Alex. What was that?"

"Well before I even start let me just say, this is not my fault." Alex hurriedly tried to make an excuse.

Rias, however, was too fed up with her altercation with Neo to care and decided to investigate herself.

"Wait Rias I don't think you should-" Alex tried to stop her from entering the kitchen but to no avail as Rias walked into the kitchen and was met with a questionable site.

On the floor was a blonde-haired girl surrounded by an array of cleaning supplies. However, the most interesting thing about the girl was that she had fallen on all fours leaving bare bottom uncovered as it was stuck up in the air.

"Auggh…why am I always so clumsy." Asia groaned from her painful fall before feeling an odd draft around her nether regions.

Looking back, she realized the problem and quickly got up to cover herself. Soon she realized she was being watched and locked eyes with a beautiful red-haired girl, and the two stared at each other with curious expressions.

"G-Good morning." Asia decided to speak up first with a nervous smile

"This is... she's uhhhh. I-I swear there's context to this." Alex said as he failed to come up with an excuse as Neo resisted the urge to facepalm.

Rias was silent for several seconds before she turned around and faced the two with Alex attempting to look innocent and Neo's face saying this is entirely Alexś fault.

"Boys." Rias said calmly like a mother speaking to her children.

""Yes."" The two answered in unison.

"Get in here, were going to have a little discussion." Rias said, still keeping her composed smile even though her face seemed to be masking her fury.

"But-" Alex attempted to argue.

"**NOW**."

And with that, a new storm blew in at full force.

**END**

* * *

**Ok so I know I said in my last chapter I was planning on realizing these chapters every month or two but unfortunately, life felt like stomping that plan into the ground. Fortunately, we're on Christmas break atm so maybe I'll be able to release another chapter before we go back but I'm not expecting anything fro myself anymore.**

**As I said in my notice I'm changing Neo's Sacred Gear color I'm going back and changing it in the previous chapter just for continuity sake. I plan on giving a shout out to who I got the concept from but I want to keep it hidden for now until I actually get to it. Anywho before I go I just want to respond to the review I got from my last chapter**

**Evowizard25- Thanks a ton for the review. I think the reason I am able to write Neo and Alex so well is that they are actually based on me and my best friend with Neo being me and Alex is my friend. He helps me write a lot of Alex's dialogue as well as proofread over my work so I'm really grateful to have him. As for Alex's pawn pieces he too all of them. I'm just gonna put this out there now, especially cause I feel there might be some controversy over Alex's win against Freed this chap. but Alex in terms of speed is superior to Issei at this point. He is designed so that he could have easily been able to fill the role as a Knight if Rias had a Mutation Piece to revive him. Not to mention Freed was caught off guard and hit in the groin(every man's weakness) so I personally feel like it was a pretty fair win but hey that's just me.**

**Sorry for unpacking so much crap at the end I think I'm just gonna end things here before they get too long I hope you all have a wonderful holiday wherever you are and I hope I can produce another chapter in a much shorter span of time.**

**As always please continue to read and review. **


	5. Hope Before Despair

It was an awkward atmosphere as Neo and Alex faced down their master with Asia starting to the side with a worried expression.

Rias had just heard Alex's explanation of the events that led him to bring Asia to Neo's house. After hearing the explanation, Rias stood silent as she pulled over what she was told.

"I see now, so that was the situation." Rias said as she held her chin, pondering the information she had received.

"So, what do you think?" Alex asked, wondering if his explanation had an effect on his possible punishment.

"Well, I will agree that you were in a very desperate situation, however…" Rias' gaze shifted to Asia, with the latter tensing up at the sudden stare.

"It was still extremely reckless of you to take her here, Alex." Rias said, confusing Alex.

"But...why. I already told you Asia saved my life you expect me to leave her with some psychopath that literally threatened to rape her?" Alex asked Rias, who shook her head.

"That isn't what I'm saying, Alex, she is a nun, and more importantly, she belongs to the Fallen Angels and possesses a Sacred Gear. Forming any relationship with her is dangerous." Rias explained, causing Alex to raise a brow.

"Why the hell should any of that matter? Asia herself isn't out to hurt anyone, and besides, she saved my life, so I have to help her out to return the favor no matter what." Alex responded earnestly and confidently.

Rias was seemingly unimpressed with the boy's courageous pledge. "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation, Alex if the Fallen Angels come with the intention of taking Asia my peerage and I will not be able to assist you and while you may be resolute with putting yourself in harms way for her, Neo, who is assisting you by letting you stay here is also in the same situation. Your actions will get both of you killed."

Rias' words sunk into Alex as he realized the severe danger he was putting Neo in because of his selfish decision.

Neo, however, interjected before Alex had time to lull over it. "Why don't you stop making it sound like I'm some unknowing bystander."

Rias turned to Neo, who folded his arms and leaned against a wall as he continued talking. "I'm well aware of what I've gotten myself into, and I'm not backing down either, If those crow fucks wanna come then so be it, I'll crush them all the same."

Everyone stood silent at Neo's declaration as Rias looked at the two who seemed resolute in their decision.

"So, you are both fine with going into a battle in which you have no hope of winning." Rias asked them.

"Heh...If it's between that and sitting around letting your enemies do as they please, then sure we are." Neo answered back, causing Rias to give the boy an irritated look.

"And just what is that supposed to mean" Rias questioned.

"Exactly as I said, you say that you can't help us because it can potentially cause a war between factions, but those bird winged fucks seem to be steamrolling all over you. They infiltrate your supposed territory, interrupt and kill one of your customers, and to top it all seemed to have no issue trying to kill one of your 'precious servants'." Neo finished as Rias seemed not to understand what he was getting at.

"What exactly are you saying." Rias questioned again.

"I'm saying that all you've been doing so far is sitting on your privileged ass while these bastards do as they please. And once one of us finally has enough of them getting their way and does something about it, you tell us to take it back. Fuck that!" Neo responded as he and Rias stared at each other down as the tension in the air heightened.

Rias crossed her arms, and as her face turned into a frown before she confirmed the boy's response once again. "And this is your final decision on the matter?"

""Yes"" They both responded in unison.

Rias let out a sigh as she began walking to the door. "Very well, if you are both committed to protecting her, then I will not stop you further."

"Seriously?! You're letting us off?" Alex asked in disbelief that his master would allow her servants to go rogue like this.

"Indeed." Rias agreed. "Though I disagree with both your actions, I doubt I could do much to stop either of you at this point outside of imprisonment or force. Therefore the best I can do is allow you to act on your own as long as you still complete your normal tasks as my servants."

As Rias approached the door, she paused and looked back at her servants, offering them one last warning. "Alex, Neo, the Fallen Angels, and their Stray Exorcist aren't to be underestimated. Even with your Sacred Gears, if you fight them, you are sure to die."

At this, Alex, made a confident smirk as he gave Rias a thumbs up. "Don't worry, Buchou, we've been in some pretty tough binds before and always gotten out; we're gonna be fine."

Rias gave a small smile at her servants' confident reply. "I hope so, Alex. You two don't need to worry about going to school today, I'll make sure to clear things up with your teachers, so they don't report it."

"Thank you." Alex said gratefully.

Rias nodded as she looked at Alex once again and then to Neo, who didn't return the gaze and left.

And with that, Rias was gone, and with her departure came the unsettling silence.

Asia looked down at her feet, unable to help to feel miserable. She was the cause of the conflict between the two boys and their master and to make matters even worse, because of her if the Fallen Angels attacked they won't receive any support because of their opposing affiliations. She felt like she should say some words of apology but before she could…

"Whew...Whelp we got out of that one so let's get breakfast.¨ Neo said as he wiped his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty hungry too why don't we go to that one family restaurant." Alex chimed in with the same relaxed tone.

"Eh?" Asia looked at the two confused by their mellow atmosphere.

"Get yourself, ready nun, your clothes should be dry now. Alex, you can wear that since we can't walk around in our school uniform." Neo ordered as he went to his room to find proper outside attire.

Alex noticed that Asia seemed to have not moved and waved in her face. ̈ ̈Hey Asia cmón were leaving.

"Oh, r-right!" Asia snapped as she prepared to go out.

* * *

The group walked casually down the street to their destination as they tried not to draw attention to themselves much to their unveiling.

While Asia hasn't spent enough time in Japan to learn what was customarily normal, she was sure a girl in a nuns habit accompanied by two boys in black joggers with one seeming two sizes too big and the other wearing a hood over his head and sunglasses was a little weird.

"Dude, can you at least take the sunglasses off." Alex complained, not being able to stand Neo's "outside attire."

"If you want us to get jumped while guarding "her" than I will." Neo said as he pointed back at Asia.

"Yeah, I guess we wouldn't want some randos trying to fight us while we have Fallen Angels on our asses." Alex relented.

Hering this, Asia became confused as to why Neo showing his appearance, would endanger them. Hence, she moved closer to Alex to ask the reason.

"Alex-san, why does Neo have to hide his appearance?" Asia asked.

"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know, huh well, let's see it's kinda a long story." Alex said as he touched his chin in thought.

"I guess you could say Neo is kinda... or well he's an infamous fighter around town, and since he looks different from others, it's pretty easy for people who want to fight him to pick him out from a crowd." Alex explained as Asia began to understand.

"I see, but If he doesn't want to fight, why doesn't he just turn them down?" Asia says innocently.

"Ahh...well, the type of people he attracts are... let's just say they aren't the kind to take no for an answer." Alex tried to explain while seeming to avoid saying something in particular.

Neo, hearing Alex and Asia turns around to see them having a private conversation, becomes invested. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, uh, nothing." Alex said quickly, knowing that Neo would get annoyed by the subject.

"You sure cause I coulda sworn with my "new" hearing that you were talking about my past." Neo said as he pointed to his ears as a group was coming from the opposing direction.

"Well, she wanted to know, so why not just tell her. Are you embarrassed about it or something?" Alex taunted with a cocky smirk.

"Embarrassed about what some cocky assholes are always trying to jump me." Neo responded as he failed to notice him and a large body getting closer before-

***BUMP!***

"Ugh... shit, my bad man." Neo apologized as he looked at who he bumped into as he only came up to his chest.

It was a large muscular man with slick black hair tied in a short ponytail. He wore grey and black camo pants and a black tank top with a large metal chain necklace.

"C'mon guys, let's go." Neo said as he walked around the group of equally thuggish looking guys as a bad feeling was welling up in his stomach.

His feeling was answered when he felt a hand grasp his hood, which forcibly pulled it off his head and halted him in place.

"Hold it, bitch." The man said before he was stooped to see Neo's red hair.

Everyone seemed to stand in place at the forced reveal as if waiting for something to push the situation forward, everyone except one particular red hair.

"Get the fuck off me, you piece of shit!" Neo roared as he slapped away the man's arm while giving a look of sheer hostility that Asia had never seen before.

"Eeep!" Asia screamed as she instinctively hid behind Alex, who was sighing at the situation.

Seeing Asia's reaction, Neo reeled back his anger as he regained his composure and coughed into his hand before he spoke. "So what the hell do you want? I'm busy and don't really give a fuck about whatever "this" is."

"Well, I don't give a fuck about your mood, but it's a good thing I ran into you. I'm the boss of the Black Wall gang names Kurogane Hito." The man introduced himself; however, Neo didn't seem to care much but decided to go along with it anyways.

"Ok, and what do you want?" Neo asked.

"Well a couple of days ago you beat the shit out of my useless little brother and some of his guys after they tried to bag some blonde, and I can't have my gang's reputation going down because they got beat by a king who's too much of a bitch to rule." Kurogane said as he cracked his knuckles, giving off a menacing aura.

Neo's eyes took on an empty look at the word "King" as he let out a sigh before scratching the top of his head.

"Chi." Neo clicked his tongue in annoyance. "So you're one of those stubborn bastards that don't know how to leave shit alone, huh. Fine, then follow me, and I'll give you what you want to leave the two blondes alone." Neo said as he stuck his hands in his pocket and casually strolled through the group to his new destination.

However, Kurogane didn't follow and instead turned to Alex and Asia. "You must be fucking stupid if you think we're gonna leave you and your pals alone. After we're done with you were gonna beat this shit out of your friend and then well rape this bi-" Kurogane wasn't able to finish his vulgar proclamation as a fierce chill went down his spine.

He turned to the source and found Neo looking back at him with his sharp golden eyes radiating an intense blood lust. He soon realized that It wasn't just him, but all of his grunts seemed to be under the same effect as him. "All of you fuckers are gonna follow me now. If you delay me again, I'll kill you." Neo said in a dark tone as the group of thugs couldn't tell if he was serious or just bluffing, and none of them dared to test.

"Hah. Welp, I guess we'll go on ahead, let's go Asia." Alex said with a sigh as he began walking to the diner nonchalant about the events that just transpired.

"Huh, b...but what about Neo he could get hurt!" Asia said in a panicked voice as she became concerned about Neo's well being.

"I mean maybe if he was human, but he's a devil now. And even if he was still human, he could beat those guys with only suffering some scrapes and bruises." Alex waved off her concerns, but Asia was still left worried.

"Besides, I'm honestly more worried about those guys than I am Neo. I mean that big guy was stupid enough to touch him and all." Alex said, rubbing his neck as he noticed Asia was confused by the whole situation.

"Well I guess that since he won't be there for a bit, I have time to explain some things about us." Alex said, convincing Asia to follow him to the diner.

* * *

"Sir, here's your order of three chocolate chip pancakes and a side of bacon and eggs. And for the lady, we have two buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon and sausage." A black-haired diner waitress said as she laid down the plates of food.

"Thanks a lot," Alex said as he poured syrup his pancakes and then began cutting a piece off before tasting it. "Mhm! Man, these pancakes are the shit, how is your's Asia?"

"Oh, they're also very delicious, and the bacon and sausage are also cooked exceptionally well." Asia replied with a smile as she took a bite from the different assortment of food on her plate.

A bit of time passed as the two blondes indulged in their meal before Alex looked up from his cleaned plate and decided to tell Asia about his and Neo's past.

"So about Neo and me." Alex said, drawing Asia's attention as she listened carefully. "Well, we're not so much now, but in the past, I guess you could say we were delinquents."

"Delinquents? You mean you used to be miscreants?" Asia asked. Back at the church, she had seen and heard of troublesome youths from the older nuns who always described them as violent, rude, criminals.

While she could kind of see Neo in that light, especially after his earlier outburst, however, even with that, he didn't really seem to be too violent or unruly minus the constant swearing.

And then hearing that Alex was also one was, even more, shaking as he fit none of the criteria that she previously knew of delinquents.

"Yeah, well, I guess you would have considered me more of a minor delinquent back then, but as for Neo, he was a pretty big deal." Alex said as he took a sip of water from his glass.

"What do you mean by big deal?" Asia asked.

"Well around Kuho delinquents that gather enough infamy start getting nicknames. For Neo, this was the "Red Devil" kinda fitting now, don't you think since he's actually a devil now?" Alex said with a grin at the ironic humor.

"I see I guess that he was called that because of his red hair then, but why was he called a devil?" Asia asked as Alex seemed to go slightly pale.

"Uhh...yeah, well even back then Neo was crazy strong like a demon and the fact he had red hair, I guess is what landed him the name." Alex said as he hid his panic from Asia.

'Asia is way too pure; there's no way in hell I can tell her how he actually got his name.' Alex said as he whipped a drop of sweat from his forehead.

"So then what did that man mean when he said that Neo was a king and that he was afraid to rule?" Asia asked as she recalled Kurogane's earlier comment that seemed to affect Neo in some way.

Alex rubbed his neck as he gave a dissatisfied look as he seemed to recall something unpleasant. "Oh yeah, he did say that. Well, for starters, that whole king bs is just an exaggeration. What he means is that Neo is at the top of the food chain when it comes to the delinquents in this town, in other words, he's the strongest."

"Wow, I never would have thought Neo was that amazing! Has he always been so strong?" Asia said in wonder.

"Hah! Of course not." Alex said with a laugh before continuing. "When I first met him, Neo was only dominating half of the opponents he was now, and the other half he just barely made it through. I mean, you have to start from somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so but then how did he become the king did he eventually get strong enough to beat everyone." Asia asked excitedly less like they were talking about a thug or miscreant and more like some superhero or anime protagonist.

"Well, he did, of course, get stronger the more he fought, but the real way he became king was by challenging the original. See, a year ago, there was this guy that went by the name wolf "White Wolf" he led an infamous gang called the "Stray Dogs," as the name implies; they were all vicious and bloodthirsty like actual wild dogs. They picked fights with other gangs all over Kuho, and even gangs from other towns were hauling as to try and challenge them, but they never lost." Alex explained before taking another sip before continuing.

"Around that time, Neo had gotten pretty strong and needed a challenge, so even he started challenging them except he was actually able to win. Eventually, he managed to fight their leader." Alex finished as Asia's eyes had a weird sparkle of excitement.

"And he beat him and became the king, is that it?" Asia asked, invested in the story.

"Well I wasn't there but according to Neo, fighting that guy, was the biggest L he ever took in his life." Alex said with a grin shocking Asia by the revelation.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far from the diner Alex and Asia were currently in, Neo stood under a bridge next to a flowing stream to his left and a grassy hill to his right. However, surrounding him were bodies of the thugs that had harassed him previously, all making different groans, gurgles, and grunts.

"Hmm, well, I've just about gotten used to this strength of mine now." Neo said as he looked at his knuckles and noticed there was blood covering them.

"Damn, it's been a while since I punched someone so hard that I got blood on me." Neo said as he walked over to the stream and began cleaning his hands.

'If I'm not careful with the blood and violence, people will start calling me the "Red Devil" again, man that shit was honestly annoying.' Neo thought to himself.

"Then again, seeing as I'm a real Devil, then I guess it wouldn't matter. Now it's time to reap some riches." Neo said out loud as he made his way over to the downed bodies stopping at Kurogane.

"You had the worst luck of um all seeing as I was still a little pissed at you even though I tried controlling my Rook strength. I'm pretty sure I broke your ribs with my first punch." Neo said as he kicked Kurogane's shoulder, hearing a small groan of pain escaped, so he knew he was still alive. It didn't seem like his ribs punctured anything, but even if they did, Neo genuinely didn't care.

"Welp, at least after the 5th bitch I knocked down, I learned how to control my new power, so I guess you trash were useful for one thing and now to see about the other." Neo said with a malicious grin as he crouched down and began patting down the delinquent's body until he found what he was looking for.

"Bingo!" Neo said as he pulled out Kurogane's wallet and looked at the contents. "Nice dude was stacked to he's got 20000 yen on him what about the rest!" Neo said as he began checking the pockets of all of Kurogane's grunts who numbered eleven

After looting all the delinquents, Neo was happy to find that he accumulated around 26000 yen.

"Awesome! With this much money, I can buy whatever I want off the menu when I meet up with Alex, and the rest can go into the rent that is coming up." Neo said as he put the money in his own wallet before walking off in high spirits.

"Let see I think I'll get myself a nice steak and fries for my dinner or maybe garlic mashed potatoes. Shit, I can't wait!" Neo chirped as we walked towards the diner.

While Neo was busy thinking of what he would eat, a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes watched him from the top of the bridged dressed in a lolita style dress.

* * *

***RING!* **

The bell atop the door rings, signaling a person's entrance into the diner.

That person was Neo, who looked around and found a waving Alex beckoning him over.

"Wassup guys." Neo said as he took a seat by Alex as he waited for their waiter to return to order his meal.

"Nothing really, so how were they?" Alex asked, referring to the delinquents Neo just got done fighting.

"Obviously, they were easy. Even though I'm not in my prime, I still could've taken them while I was human, but now they're a cakewalk." Neo explained.

"Hmm, well, if that's the case, then why didn't you just beat them while we were on the sidewalk?" Alex asked.

"I was testing something, don't worry about it." Neo responded as he wouldn't disclose any details of what he was testing.

"Hmm... so, what's this I heard about you saving girl huh?" Alex asked as Neo's face cringed.

"Geh!" Neo groaned from Alex's question as he rested his head on his right hand.

"And here you are calling me a fuck boy, but look at you, saving chicks like some white knight." Alex laughed as he nudged Neo's arm with his elbow.

"Dude, it wasn't that big of a deal I don't even remember the chicks name." Neo said, but Alex was unconvinced.

"So what else did you do with this "chick?" Did she give you a thank you kiss or something." Alex said with a grin.

"Dude, I just walked her home calm down your creeper is showing." Neo said, feeling annoyed by Alex's comments.

Neo felt an odd stare aimed towards him, and when he looked to the source, he saw it was Asia looking at him with admiring eyes.

"Uh, hey nun is their blood on my face or something your kinda creeping me out." Neo said off-put by Asia's staring.

"Oh, nothing. I just see you in a new light now, Neo-san, you're incredible!" Asia said, making Neo even more uncomfortable.

"Oh...ok." Neo said, wishing for something to distract him from this awkward situation.

"Greetings sir, have you placed an order yet?" A waitress came by to save the day as she saw Neo was unaccompanied by a plate of food.

"Oh thank g- I mean no can I place my order." Neo turned to the waitress thankful for her intervention as he prepared to chow down.

* * *

"Man, I can't believe you ate two freaking steaks for breakfast, you damn glutton." Alex said as he walked to the left of Neo as he recalled Neo's order.

"Hey, man busting some delinquent ass takes a lot of energy. And man was those steaks filling." Neo said, patting his stomach satisfied.

"I agree it was my first time having such a good breakfast. I'm so thankful to you both." Asia said in agreement to form Alex's left.

"First time? Wait, so you never had had pancakes, eggs, and sausage before what the hell did you eat?" Neo asked curiously.

"Only simple things really, mainly bread and soup. I also eat vegetables and pasta foods." Asia described her old life as Neo's brow scrunched at the nun's simplistic lifestyle.

"I know, right." Alex said to Neo as he noticed the look he was making as it was the same look he made when Asia told him this at the diner while he was gone. "I even had to order for her because she didn't understand the language, let alone all the menu options." Alex explained with a strained smirk as Asia turned red with embarrassment.

"Auu, I'm ashamed. I can't even order a single meal by myself…" Asia said, depressed as she pressed her pointer fingers together.

"Welp, first, you need to get used to Japanese. Anyways, now that we all ate, what do you guys wanna do?" Alex asked as Neo and Asia pondered their answer.

"I'm fine with just going back to my apartment and getting on my computer, but I guess you guys will want to do something else." Neo responded truthfully.

"Yeah, lets not." Alex rejected as he put a hand to his chin as he thought of some ideas.

"I know what about the arcade." Alex said as Neo gave him a confused look.

"The arcade? What are you like eight?" Neo reprimanded, causing Alex to scowl.

It's because Asia's never been anywhere fun before! Besides, it's better to than hanging out in your room with nothing else to do you fucking shut-in." Alex spat as Neo shrugged.

"Fine, let's just go." Neo said, seemingly not caring about the topic anymore.

And so the group went to the arcade where Alex showed Asia around the assortment of games as the two tried them all out. At the same time, Neo sat by the side, distracting himself on his phone.

Eventually, Alex noticed that Asia had wandered off. As he looked for her, he saw her standing in front of a crane game machine looking longingly at one of the prizes.

"Hmm, oh, that's a Pikachu plushie? Do you want one Asia?" Alex said after he walked over to the machine.

"Eh? N-No, t-that is…" Asia stutters as her face gets red, and she nods her head shyly.

"Then, I'll get it for you." Alex said as he rummaged through his wallet and pulled out a coin.

"Eh! No, it's fine, Alex-san, you don't have to…! You've already done enough as is." Asia said, trying not to make Alex waste his money on her, but Alex ignored her and started playing.

"Hmm. Go like this...then a little bit of this...and done!" Alex said as he managed to get a solid grip on the plushie in his first try.

"Incredible Alex-san!" Asia said, shocked at how effortlessly Alex won the prize.

"Oh, that was nothing. If you want, I could win you some more when you've got the luck like I do games like this are pretty easy." Alex said as he stuck out his chest pridefully before handing Asia the plushie.

"No, this doll that you gave me represents the wonderful day I met you. I will take good care of this doll." Asia said as she held the doll to her chest, which caused Alex's cheeks to have a shade of pink from her embarrassing words and cute gesture.

"Uh...right! Anyways let's keep going there's a tone of more stuff to do after all!" Alex said as he took her hand and explored, they explored the game center more.

The two seemed to enjoy their time together to the point where Alex even forgot Neo was with them as they played until it appeared that it was past the time school had ended.

* * *

"Man, it's been a while since I've had that much fun." Alex said as he stretched his arms.

"Y-Yes… I'm a bit tired…" Asia replied with a smile as the two were walking down the street with Neo close behind them.

Alex turned around with a sour expression as he slowed his pace to walk evenly with Neo.

"Dude why the hell didn't you play with us in the arcade you were sitting on the side like a total bitch." Alex said as Neo rolled his eyes.

"Why would I wanna feel like a third wheel Alex? Besides, you two had fun without me, right? I bet you forgot I was even there, so it's fine." Neo replied in his deadpan tone.

"I guess, but you're still weird as hell for doing that. I mean, you didn't even play one game you were just on your phone the whole time." Alex said as he recalled their time in the arcade.

"Nah, I think what's really weird is that this is the second time that I've been tagging along while you were having a great old time on a date. Honestly, if we didn't have to guard the nun, then I would have cut out a long time ago." Neo complained.

"Hey man, one day, you'll get lucky with a girl too. It just might take a few hundred years, but you're a devil, so you'll be fine." Alex said with a smug grin as a vein bulged on Neo's forehead.

"Fuck you." Neo replied as he went to scratch the top of his head before flinching in pain.

"Yo, you ok?" Alex said, slightly worried.

"Ack! Yeah, it's fine. I just took a hit to the head a while back from a scrub of the brother of that dickhead I buried. I think it's scabbing over, but it kinda hurts not to mention I think my hair might be caught in it." Neo said with a groan of irritation.

"Neo-san, are you injured?" Asia asks with concern in her voice as she looks at the red-haired teen.

"Eh? I mean I guess it hurts some, but the injury is a little-"

"Please show me your injury then." Asia says in a voice that is soft yet commanding.

"Fine." Neo complies with a sigh as he bends down, allowing her to see his injury.

Asia proceeds to place her palm there as she summons her Sacred Gear.

A warm and gentle green light shines on Neo's head as he feels the remnants of pain began to cease entirely.

"How is it?" Asia asks.

"Hmm? It's healed. Wow, even the scabbing from before is gone, almost like the injury never happened." Neo said in a monotone voice as he felt where his injury used to be.

"Dude, you could try to act more amazed." Alex said in reply to Neo's lack of enthusiasm.

"I mean, we've already been brought back from the dead, so anything after is kinda lackluster in comparison." Neo said, explaining his lack of excitement.

"Whatever her powers are still incredible. Ah! Speaking of which that power is your Sacred Gear right Asia?" Alex asked her.

"Yes, it is." Asia nods her head in agreement.

"Man, you have great healing powers that let you heal humans and even devils. Meanwhile, I'm stuck with a power I barely even know how to use." Alex sighs, as Asia's expression grows sad as tears start falling from her eyes.

Soon after, she got down and began to fully bawl as the two boys looked in shock and confusion.

"H-hey Asia! Are you ok!? Was it something I said if so I'm sorry.¨ Alex tried apologizing but to no avail as Asia kept crying.

'Haaah. And we tripped a landmine.' Neo thinks to himself as he watches the nuns sobbing before he and Alex decide to cart off to a park where they sat, well, Alex and Asia were sitting while Neo stood to the side.

After she composed herself, Asia began telling the boys about the story of a girl once called the "Holy Maiden."

In a certain region in Europe, there was a girl who was discarded by her parents, the girl was a keen follower of the church, and at the age of 8, she received an extraordinary power where she miraculously healed a wounded puppy.

A person from the Catholic Church witnessed it by chance. From there on, her life changed, and the girl was taken to the central Catholic Church. She would be symbolized by many as a "Holy Maiden" because of her healing power.

She used her power to heal many believers, and they were told it was a power of divine protection. Rumors brought rumors, and she was respected as a "Holy Maiden" even though she never approved of such a title.

She had no dissatisfaction with how she was treated. People from the Church were kind, and she didn't hate healing people and was instead happy that her power was of use and was thankful for the power bestowed to her by God.

Even though she was thankful, she was, however, a bit lonely. She didn't have any friends she could open up to, and although everyone treated her nicely, no one wanted to be her friend.

She knew why, of course, it was because of the irregular power she was born with that caused them not to look at her as a human but as a creature that could heal humans.

But one day, everything changed when she found a wounded Devil. Unable to stand by while someone was hurt in front of her, and so her kindness caused her to heal him. Sadly her feelings were not reciprocated by the church as a priest saw the incident and notified the other members of the church.

"A power that can heal Devils!?"

"Something absurd like that cannot happen!"

"The power of healing can only heal the followers of God!"

While multiple people had the power of healing, the ability to heal Devils was unacceptable. It was the people of the Church's belief that it was common sense that the power of healing doesn't work on Fallen Angels and Devils.

The power to heal Fallen Angels and Devils that were not under God's divine protection by God caused the girl to be feared and despised as a "Witch."

And so all the people she had helped and treated her with so much kindness turned on her and labeled her a heretic.

"Damn witch that heals Devils!"

Afterward, the girl was abandoned by the Catholic Church. The only place she could call home, she had no choice but to seek out the protection of the Fallen Angels. But the girl never forgot to pray and still held her faith and thankfulness in God.

Even though he didn't save her from her suffering.

Even though not a single person she helped extended a hand or defend her in her time of need.

Even though not a single person cared for her.

"… It's because I didn't pray enough, it's because I'm clumsy. I'm to stupid to order food by myself after all." Asia said as she wiped her tears while laughing.

Alex, after hearing Asia's story, was at a loss for words for what to say in response.

After all, what could he say that wouldn't sound like a pathetic conciliation, he thought. However, Neo reacted very differently.

"I didn't pray enough? Its because I'm clumsy and stupid? What the fuck is that!?" Neo said as his hair covers his eyes as he walked closer to an intimidated Asia.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Asia cried as she began quivering in fear as Neo approached. Alex was about to intervene. Still, Neo moved quicker as he grabbed Asia's shoulders, causing her to look into Neo's golden orbs with her green ones.

"I don't give a damn about your apology, just what the hell is wrong with you!?" Neo shouted as Asia looked at him in fear and shock. "After all the pain and suffering that you've gone through, all you have to say is that you didn't pray enough? You think you have to sacrifice, sacrifice, and sacrifice and for what, to hope that the pompous asshole in Heaven you retards call a God will take pity on you and give you salvation."

Asia shifted under Neo's grip at his statement. "N...not for me, I never believed or prayed for God to save me from my situation, and I was happy that what I was doing was granting people happiness and seeing the smiles of my fellow believers. To do that, I was willing to do anything, even if it meant carrying all this suffering that I was made to bear.

Hearing this, the veins on Neo's temples began to bulge as his anger made him lose control of his strength and he almost crushed the girl's shoulders before -

"Neo, let go now." Alex gripped his wrist tightly as his voice sounded calm but forceful.

Realizing what he almost did, Neo quickly let go of Asia as he took a few steps back.

Neo looked at them before turning around as he began to walk away. "You zealous followers are all so fucking stupid."

"Hey Neo, where the hell are you going!?" Alex shouted at Neo.

"For a walk." Neo responded without turning back.

Before walking too far away, Neo stopped with his back still turned to the two blondes. "Yo nun, let me tell you something, you think that for other people to get a happy ending its ok if they force suffering and isolation onto you? That's wrong; it's human nature to want happiness and connections. You choosing to reject that and making yourself suffer doesn't make you a saint or a devout follower; it makes you a fool..."

Neo turned to her and shot her a cold look as his eyes seemed devoid of light in an almost sorrowful manner as he finished his speaking "...But I guess it's fine since you and your damnable religion are made of nothing but those fools." Neo finished as he walked off to who knows where.

Asia stood silent as Neo's words reverberated through her head.

"GAH! Fuck! Great! Not he's gone and gotten triggered, and he won't be back till he calms down." Alex groaned as he sat down with a long sigh. "Man, whatever he can go fuck himself, anyways, are you okay, Asia?"

"A-ah, yes, I'm okay. It's just…... I wonder if Neo-san hates me for what I said?" Asia said with a sad look as Alex rubbed his neck.

"Well, he's definitely upset, especially because he hates religion and the concept of a God." Alex said, surprising Asia; however, after seeing this outburst, she could definitely see that as being valid.

"S...so it really is my fault." Asia said as the thought of one of her saviors despising her brought her to tears.

"Well that's not exactly it, normally he doesn't go off on anybody like that unless they are really annoying him. The reason he got so upset is that after hearing about your past and all the horrible stuff you've been through, you said that it was your fault because you weren't devoted enough and started down talking yourself." Alex explained as Asia looked up at him.

"E-eh? B-but it's true. This is also a trial that the Lord gave me. Since I'm a clumsy nun, the Lord gave me this trial. So I have to endure it." Asia said with a laugh as she tried to cheer herself up as Alex looked on with growing pain in his heart.

"And besides, I'm sure I will make lots of friends one day. I have a dream. I want to go make friends that I'll be able to go shopping with, to eat great food…...and talk…..." Asia said as her tears kept flowing.

'This girl has been through so many hurtful things without anyone to turn to. She only had faith to keep herself from falling apart, and even that's starting to fail her.' Alex thought as he looked down, not able to bear the girl's tragic breakdown.

'This is so fucked up! She hasn't done anything wrong, and yet even after being abandoned, she still is suffering, and nobody is gonna help her? Well fuck this shit, then I won't sit here and let her continue like this anymore.' Alex resolved himself as he grasped Asia's hands.

"Asia If you want a friend to do all that cheesy shit with then i'll be your first friend!" Alex proclaimed as Asia looked in shock.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

_In an empty monastery, a young boy bowed before an altar with the statue of an angel over it._

_The boy was a 12 year old Neo who had his hands clasped in prayer and a silver cross hanging from his neck._

"_God, please...I know that I'm worthless and unimportant, but please..." Neo pleaded as his voice started to choke up as he held back his tears._

"_Please don't take her away from me! She…...she's all I have if I lose her ill...ill-"_

_***CREAK!***_

_Neo stopped praying as he heard the creaking of the old wooden door signaling someone's entrance into the church. He didn't move as he could already guess who walked in._

"_Kanbaru-san, it's time to go." A familiar man's voice said as neo slowly got up before turning around._

_The man in front of him was Touji Shidou, a priest as well as the man in charge of the church they were currently in. He was a middle-aged man with light brown hair and dressed in standard priest garb._

_Neo nodded his head as he took unsteady steps to the door as his legs felt numb from him sitting on them for so long._

_As he left through the creaking wood door, Touji_'s _wife emerged from another room with a worried look on her face as she watched Neo leave._

"_Honey, why did you make him leave? You should have at least invited him to dinner with us." His wife scolded as Touji shook his head._

"_He's already been here praying for the past 3 hours, besides even if I did invite him he would have just said no anyways." Touji said with a sigh as he couldn't help but feel bad about his decision as well._

"_I'm worried about him. After everything, he has been through in the past, and now he's losing his precious friend." Toujis's wife said with a sorrowful look._

"_All we can do is pray that the Lord offers him mercy." Touji said with pained eyes._

* * *

(Present)

"Haah. Man, I'm such a dick." Neo said with a sigh as he sat on a park bench as he reflected on his earlier outburst.

"I mean, I didn't say anything wrong, but I definitely didn't need to go as far as grabbing her by the shoulders. If Alex wasn't there, I might have fucked up and- Agh! Fuck it this is getting me nowhere!" Neo shouted as he jumped up from the bench and began to head back to Alex and Asia.

"Ah! Red Devil-kun!" A voice rang out, calling Neo's attention.

'Huh, that's?' Neo thought to himself as he saw the petite blonde girl with blue eyes wearing a black gothic lolita outfit with a black bow.

'Eh, I don't remember, so they must not be important.' Neo said to himself as he began walking, ignoring the girl.

"Ah H-HEY, what the hell is that!? Aren't you going to say anything!?" The girl shouted as she ran up to him.

"And who are you again?" Neo asked, genuinely not remembering the girl that was not walking behind him.

"It's me, Mittlet. You know the super cute girl you saved from some delinquents you even walked me home." Mittelt said as retold the events of her and Neo's first meeting.

"Hmmm. So first. Calling yourself cute makes you sound hella conceited. Secondly-" Neo said as he coughed into his closed hand. "Ohhh so you're that annoying ass blonde girl." Neo said they last part in a voice that lacked any form of enthusiasm possible.

"Gah! You insufferable little-! Anyways what are you doing here? Taking a walk." Mittelt asked with a sigh as she tried moving on.

"No, I was actually going to meet back up with my friend." Neo replied, causing Mittelt to stop in place with a shocked expression.

"N-no way y-you have a friend?" Mittelt said dramatically like the world was about to end. "T-t-t-that's impossible, is it Armageddon or something?"

'I fucking hate this girl.' Neo thought to himself as he began to recall how much this girl annoyed him before calming himself down.

'Still, I can't let that throw me off she might be dangerous after all she-"

"Hey, would you stop ignoring me!" Mittelt screamed as she derailed Neo's train of thought.

"Hugghh. What the hell do you want." Neo said with a sigh.

"I asked you if you wanted to meet any of my friends you ass hole." Mittelt said, causing Neo to raise his brow in confusion.

"I already don't like you as far as I can throw you. And trust me, I throw pretty far. So why the fuck would I want to meet any of your friends?" Neo replied.

He expected her to give some snide remarks or yell back at him, but Mittelt stayed silent as her hair hid her eyes.

"Aww, that's a shame. Cause my friends would love to meet you again; isn't that right, Dohnaseek?" Mittelt said the last part with an ominous tone as the familiar name ran through Neo's head.

'Wait, that's the name of the- !' Neo's thoughts were cut off as three of his senses alerted him to oncoming danger.

The first was his new devil sense that made his body feel cold as it yelled at him to escape from something. The second was the sense of danger Neo had gained through his harsh upbringing and constant battles against bullies and other delinquents.

The final one was his hearing as he began to pick up a faint hum, which started to increase in volume until it was a loud buzzing that he was very familiar with.

***BZZZZZ!***

From the line of trees shot forth a blue object aimed at Neo's head and flying at breakneck speeds with the intention to kill.

"SHIT!" Neo shouted as he leaped into the air with his devil strength and managed to avoid the blue light spear that attempted to shishkabob him through his skull.

'That spear! It belongs to that Fedora Wearing Fuck! Then that means-' Neo looked to the area where Mittlet had initially been standing and saw that she had vanished right before those same three senses blared again, this time warning him of danger from above.

***BZZZZZ!***

Flying above with her unfurled black feathered wings was Mittelt with a cold murderous look in her eyes as she wielded a pink light spear and swung downwards to diagonally cleave Neo in two.

* * *

(Five Minutes Earlier)

"Asia. If you want a friend to do all that cheesy shit with, then I'll be your first friend!" Alex proclaimed as Asia looked in shock.

"…Why?" Asia asked genuinely not understanding Alex's proposal of friendship, which caused him to get embarrassed.

"Augh! Son of a-, would you just say yes already Asia. I mean we had a good time together, right? I refuse to let you go on pushing yourself down and suffering alone with nobody there to help you." Alex said, shoving aside his embarrassment as his look grew serious as his blue eyes stared into Asia's green ones.

"Asia listen to me, the only thing that you did wrong was that you believed all the assholes that put you down and tossed you aside for being a good person. You helped someone regardless of who they were, any God that allows one of his followers to suffer just from helping someone else isn't someone you should have to devote your life to." Alex said, letting go of Asia's hands giving the girl her space.

Asia put her hand on her mouth and once again started to shed tears, though, this time, her tears were not those of sadness.

"…Alex-san. I have no common sense or sense of direction." Asia said.

"Yeah, well, when I first came here with my dad, I was pretty bad at getting around too. I can help you learn by going around the city. Once we do that a couple times, you'll get it, and unlike me, you won't be alone since I'll be there." Alex replied.

"…I can't speak Japanese. I also don't know about its culture." Asia came up with another excuse as she began to form a smile.

"Shit, you kidding. I've been here for years, and I still suck at Japanese don't even get me started on the culture I still suck at it." Alex said with a grin before he continued. "If that's a problem for you, I can get Neo to teach you about both. He's a major pain in the ass to handle, but I'm positive I could warm him up to you, plus since you're so cute, there's no way you wouldn't break down his walls eventually. Hell, maybe I and you could learn together riven being needing to brush up anyways."

"I also don't know what to talk about with a friend." Asia said now looking at Neo with a bright smile as Alex began chuckling

"Asia, you do realize that we've been talking to each other like friends this whole day right? Making friends isn't rocket science, all you have to do is take that first step." Alex said with a smile as Asia clenched her hands to her chest as she stood up resolutely.

"Alex-san…will, you become my friend?" Asia asked Alex, hopefully.

"Yeah, so let's get along from now on, Asia." Alex replied as Asia nods her head and smiles.

'Well, it was embarrassing as hell, but at least sheś happy now.' Alex thought as his cheeks were slightly flushed with embarrassment from all the corny things he said.

'Now, I'll just have to patch things up with her and Neo, and everything else will turn out perfect now when the hell is that hot-headed asshole gonna get back.' Alex looked around, seeing no sign of his red-haired friend.

"Hmm, well hell, be back when he feels like it. But it's strange, I can't help but feel like I forgot something?" Alex said out loud.

"Oh, would that something be this~ Alex-kun~" A sweet voice called out to Alex as a harsh chill range through his body.

Alex made a sharp turn to discover the source of the feeling only to be met by a terrifying sight.

Quickly closing in on him was a pink spear of light that was aimed to pierce through his abdomen.

Guided by his instincts and superb reflexes, Alex put all his strength into his right foot and jumped back, managing to escape the trajectory of the spear. It would take less than a second to realize the blunder of his decision.

The spears momentum continued, and with its original target gone, it found a new one in Asia who was frozen in shock.

Already Alex's mind pictured the worst-case scenario. Still, while his mind was in despair, Alex's body reflexively moved to perform the same leap one more to save Asia.

***SLICKK!***

"GAAAAGGGHH!" Alex screamed in pain. He managed to grab Asia and position her out of the way of the attack, but at the cost of the spear slicing through his lower back as Alex could swear the spear cut into his spine.

"AUGHH! UUGAAAH!" Alex cried on the ground as his body was ravaged by the unimaginable pain of his critical injury and the powerful light poisoning burning his body from the inside out.

"Wow, that's my Alex-kun~ Not only did you manage to dodge my light spear, but you even had enough time to play hero for Asia~" That same sweet voice called out to Alex, who was in too much pain to be able to hear.

However, Alex couldn't help but remember the shape and color of the spear as he immediately knew who attacked him as one thought surfaced to his conscience through his pain. "Yuuma."

* * *

**End**

**Hello, everyone, I hope you all have had a great kick-off into this new year, and if not hopefully this chapter can help you a bit.**

**I just wanted to take the time to say thank you to every person who has left a favorite, follow, or review of my fanfic. It has always been a dream of mine ever since discovering this site to produce my own content, and seeing you all genuinely liking and anticipating my next chapters fills me with so much happiness and motivation. I hope I can continue to provide you all with satisfactory content in the future. Anyways enough of the sappy crap, let's get on with the review responses.**

**Evowizard25 - Once again thank you so much for your continued support and reviews, I'm glad you enjoyed Momma Rias and trust me you can expect a lot more her too. Unlike in the original where she viewed Issei as more of a kid brother in this story, she sees Alex and Neo as irresponsible children she has to look after, especially when they're together, which makes sense because they're both delinquents. As for Asia, I figured since she is so innocent, it would be pretty easy to write a nice fanservice scene with her involved, plus I thought the idea was pretty spicy, so I went with it.**

**Anyways that's all from me. I hope you all have a wonderful day or night wherever you live, and even though it's a little late, have a good New Year.**

**As always, please continue to read and review.**


	6. Raid on the Church Part 1:

**Part 1: The Delinquent's Set Out!**

* * *

"Alex-kun~" Yumma's voice rang through Alex's head as his mind started fading to black.

'S-shit, not again. Am I really gonna die again?' Alex thought to himself as he started to lose his sense of pain and began feeling cold.

It was a feeling he had familiarized himself with once before, the cold slow sense of death except, this time, something was off.

'E-eh? I feel warm? And I'm starting to get feeling back in my body.' Alex thought as the sensation of warmth returned to him, and slowly but surely, he was able to twitch his fingers.

'Not only that, but I'm also not in pain anymore...is this Asia's power? Yeah, it has to be shit I thought I was a goner but, with this, I can still fight!' Alex's mind raced to get himself awake as he slowly felt his mind and body jump back to life.

"GAH! Shit, I thought I was a goner!" Alex gasped as he rose from his stomach and looked at his surroundings.

As he thought, Asia seemed to have been crouched over him and used her Sacred Gear to heal his injuries and light poisoning.

Taking another look around, Alex saw his supposed ex looking far more mature than he remembered and dressed for some sort of BDSM show, which he thought was erotic. Still, he pushed aside those thoughts for now.

Standing up, Alex gets into a fighting stance as he starts down the girl with menacing eyes. "Yuuma!"

She laughs in amusement after hearing Alex's venomous voice.

"Heh. You survived. And as a Devil? Seriously, that is the worst." She said as Alex noticed that even her tone of voice seemed to change to be more mature.

"…Raynare-sama…" Asia calls Yuuma by a name Alex had never heard of before.

"Raynare? So that's your real name? Well, whatever, anyway, what's a vulture like you doing here." Alex said, venomously causing Raynare to give him a sneering expression.

"I don't want a filthy Low-Class Devil like you talking to me." Raynare said as she stared at Alex as if he were a literal pile of shit.

"But that's neither here nor there you see that girl. Asia is our personal belonging. So I'm taking her back. Asia, you know it's useless to try to escape, right?" Raynare looked past Alex to the quivering Asia that attempted to hide behind Alex's back.

"…No. I don't want to return to that Church. I don't want to return to the people who kill other people. …" Asia said as she seemed utterly repulsed by the thought of going anywhere with the Fallen Angel, especially the church.

Seeing the girls continued defiance, Raynare became agitated and began approaching the pair. "Please don't say that, Asia. Your Sacred Gear is essential for our plan. So please come back with me. I also took the time to look for you. So stop being such a troublesome bitch! "

Seeing this, Alex takes a step forward to protect her. "The only bitch I see here is you, you feathered fuck."

"Low-Class Devil, you don't even have the right to mention my name, let alone insult it. What's between us doesn't have anything to do with you. If you don't go back to your master's place quickly, I'll just kill you again." Raynare said as she began gathering light in her hand.

Alex, even without knowing the actual purpose of the gesture, immediately knew he had to take offensive action against it, and so he made the first move. "Sacred Gear!"

Once he called out to it, a green flash covered his right arm, and once it dissipated, what formed was his red gauntlet.

Seeing this, Raynare was at first shocked, but after a few seconds, she began to laugh. "I was told that your Sacred Gear was a dangerous one before from the higher-ups, but it looks like they were totally wrong!"

"W-what?" Alex said, admittingly caught off guard by the Fallen Angels words.

"Your Sacred Gear is one of the common ones. It's called the **[Hand of the Dragon]**, otherwise known as **[Twice Critical]**. It doubles the power of the possessor for a short time, but having your power doubled is not a threat to me. Truly, a fitting object for a Low-Class Devil like you." Raynare scoffed as Alex looked down at his apparently lackluster gauntlet.

'Shit, that's all it does. Well, I was able to beat Freed with it, so it's good enough. All I need to do is make some distance between myself and this bitch so I can get Asia out of here if I can meet up with Neo we should be able to make it from there.' Alex thought as he formulated his plan.

In response, Raynare gathered more light in her hands until it became a spear of light.

'Alright time to show me your shit, Sacred Gear!' Alex focused on his gauntlet as the green jewel began to glow.

**[Boost!]**

Once again, like in his confrontation with Freed, Alex felt power flow through his body. This time, however, he received the full effects of the power as he felt the sensation of his body weighing less, and his stamina had increased.

However, he was left no time to dwell on it as upon seeing his power increase, Raynare immediately launched a spear to impale him once more.

"Like that shit would work again!" Alex shouted as he spun his body around the spear. After avoiding the attack, Alex crouched down and sprinted forward with impressive speed.

'He's fast!' Raynare was surprised by Alex's quick transition from evasion to offense as she began flapping her wings to create some distance.

'She's trying to back up to create another spear shit! I've gotta close the distance fast, but she's already too far to jump too!' Alex thought to himself as prepared to leap at Raynare even if it was futile before a second announcement sounded from his Sacred Gear.

**[Boost!]**

Once again, Alex felt his power rise as he leaped into the air and managed to close the distance he thought was impossible in a single leap as he readies his left leg to kick.

"Be my guest if you want to lose your leg, you inferior Devil!" Raynare said boastfully as she readied her spear to slice off Alex's leg.

"Got ya, bitch!" Before Raynare had time to consider what was happening, Alex facked her out with his kick and instead prepared his armored arm and struck Raynare right in her abdomen, causing the Fallen Angel coughed out spit from the blow and sending her tumbling back several feet in the air.

"Sweet looks like all those fighting lessons Neo made me take in the past just paid off." Alex fist pumped with a confident smirk as Raynare gave off an explosive amount of killing intent after she managed to recover.

"You low-class scum! How dare you strike me!" Raynare said with a scowl.

"Get used to it cause there's a lot more where that came from!" Alex said, raising up his gauntlet as the gem glowed once more.

**[Boost!]**

Raynare narrowed her eyes after hearing the third announcement from Alex's Sacred Gear as she pondered how such a thing was possible. She had already assessed that his Sacred Gears power was no more than a Twice Critical, but…

'That punch and his speed, it didn't feel like they had just doubled, it was as if it was quadrupled.' Raynare thought back to Alex's attack in confusion as Alex also looked to his Sacred Gear with a questioning gaze.

He had noticed that when he struck Raynare, the power he accumulated seemed to vanish. On the third announcement, however, his strength felt like it was doubled like once before. 'She said it could only double my power once, but it seems like she's wrong.' Alex thought to himself

However, because of her Fallen Angel pride, or because she wasn't intelligent enough to take caution of it, she ignored the matter entirely. 'He's just some Low-Class Devil besides even though he quadrupled his power, he did no damage. He's nothing!' Raynare thought as she took to the skies once more with a menacing look on her face.

"I'm through playing around with you, this time I'll throw my spears at full force and make sure you're dead. But don't worry, you'll have your worthless red-headed friend to join you in hell." Raynare declared as she summons two spears of light in each of her hands as they resonate with power.

Alex's eyes widened as he processed the last part of what she said. "What the hell do you mean, Neo will die with me? You bitch, what did you do!?" Alex shouted as his face scrunched in anger.

"I haven't done anything to him. But right now he should be having a fun time getting cut to bits by my colleagues. But now's not the time for you to be worrying about others; now die!" Raynare roared as she launched her spears at high speeds.

* * *

_(With Neo)_

***BZZZZZ!***

"Sacred Gear!" Neo shouted as he summoned his Sacred Gear, grabbing his wrist with his left hand as he prepared to block Mittelt's incoming attack.

***SCREECH!***

Hundreds of sparks flew between the point of contact between Neo's Sacred Gear and Mittelt's light spear as a grinding noise sounded between the two.

Neo was surprised to find that despite how childish his Sacred Gear looked, it seemed to hold well enough.

After her attack failed, gravity took its course as Neo fell back to the ground, putting distance between them so he could have a clear view of Mittelt and the woods area of the park where the other spear came from.

"Shit that was way too close for comfort!" Neo screamed in his mind as he tried to relax his thumping heartbeat and analyze the situation. 'This situation isn't the greatest either. Not only do they have that Fedora Bastard positioned as a sniper, but I also have to deal with this one acting as the main attacker.' Neo thought about what course of action he should take, but unfortunately, his knowledge of battle told him his opponents had him pinned.

Not only would he have to deal with Dohnaseek attempts at harpooning him like a fish from the cover of the tree line. He also had to fend off Mittelt, who to his annoyance simply hovered above as she seemed to be thinking of how to approach the situation as well.

'If she can throw her spears as good as the one before, I'm fucked. I can't even reach her much less attack her since I never learned to fly with my Devil wings.' Neo thought as he mentally cursed Rias for making him pass out dumb flyers instead of teaching him real important stuff for a Devil.

"Tch. This is what happens when I follow along with the plan of some halfling." A rough voice sounded from behind Neo turning his attention to it, and he found the source to be Dohnaseek.

'He gave up on sniping? Is this part of their plan or…?' Neo's eyes darted to Mittelt, whose eyes widened in shock at the man's appearance as well. 'I guess not.'

"Dohnaseek, what happened to our plan!?" Mittelt shouted at the man who, in response, grew a deep scowl.

"Our?" Don't be ridiculous, all I did was go along with your pathetic plan, and you screwed it up. I have no reason to continue trying to make your stupid plan work. Besides, as a warrior and superior being, it's pathetic to suggest I take caution from this trash."

Hearing this, Mittelt made a scrunched expression of annoyance as she realized there was no convincing her stubborn colleague if he would even consider her that.

'I see, so it's infighting, but that gives me an advantage to exploit now, let's see…' Neo thought about the few interactions he had with the two enemies he faced before deciding on his target. 'That one.' Neo said as he looked at Dohnaseek with a hostile glare.

"Oi Fedora Wearing Fuck!" Neo shouted to Dohanseek, grabbing the Fallen Angel's attention.

"My name is Dohnaseek, you Low-Class trash. What do you want?" Dohnaseek replied, looking at Neo with a scowl.

"Hm? Oh, I was just wondering if you were planning to come down and finish what you started anytime soon." Neo said with a bored look, which seemed to perplex Dohaseek.

"You wish for death that badly. I thought dying once would have made you a little bit cautious, but I guess a fool like yourself is incapable of learning." Dohnaseek said with a sneer which Neo returned with a cocky smirk.

"Really now? I mean, you said before that your goal was to kill me before my power could take full effect, but here I am. Alive and well and having unlocked my sacred Gear that you were so desperate to prevent." Neo said, waking his armored hand in the air as Dohnaseek stared at it with disinterest.

"It is true that you and your friend were killed because my superiors believed you too to be dangerous. But now that I've had a look at your power for myself, I can see that they put far too much credit on them." Dohnaseek said, shaking his head as if he was embarrassed by him and his companions' cautious actions.

"?" Neo shot him a questioning glare, which Dohanseek saw and decided to answer for whatever reason he may have had.

"You see Devil, your Sacred Gear is a common one named **[Twice Critical]** otherwise known as the **[Hand of the Dragon]**. It doubles the power of the possessor for a temporary time, and because you're a mear Low-Class event that is pretty pathetic. Seriously, we wasted all that time for this?" Dohaseek said with a sigh as Neo thought to himself.

'Doubles power? But that's not what it-. No, that doesn't matter right now. Plus if he thinks he knows it's ability, it'll be even easier to enrage him.' Neo thought as he prepared to put his act into motion.

"Pff." Neo faked a laugh catching Dohnaseek's eye.

"What's so comical, Devil." He replied.

"Everything honestly. You have a pretty big ego to think id need some unique power to trounce your sorry ass. Hell, honestly, the way I am now, I bet I could kill you without even using my Sacred Gear." Neo taunted as his eyes were hidden with his hair as only a dark smile could be seen.

"You bastard how dare you-"

"What? Insult you, a superior being." Neo cut Dohanseek off as he continued his insult "Please get over yourself, you call yourself a proud warrior, and yet you attempted to snipe at me from a safe distance while a little girl had more balls to face me up close." Neo said as Dohanseek was becoming red with rage, which Mittelt caught and attempted to calm him down.

"Dohanseek ignore him! He's just some Devil spouting nonsense, let's just kill him and return to the others!" Mittelt tried reasoning with the man but to no avail.

"Don't bother Lolita." Neo said to Mittelt as she looked at him with irritation as well as worry for the growing tension in the air. "After all, he knows better than anyone it's true. That's why he hasn't come to shut me up, yet it's honestly quite sad, don't you think?" At that moment, Neo lifted up his face, and Mittelt saw the look in his eyes.

They were devoid of light and soulless as he wore a malicious smirk. "It's sad when a filthy vulture that can only stand tall over weaklings and corpses acts like a proud hawk, don't you think. Or maybe calling him a gnat or mosquito would be more fitting; right, Lolita?" Neo said to her as it seemed that something had snapped in Dohansek as he gripped his chest hard, and the veins on his head looked as though they were going to burst.

Neo's words rung through his head constantly before similar words resurfaced to his mind as though Neo had stirred them up from his subconscious.

"Y-y-y-y-YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!" Dohanseek finally broke as he summoned his blue light spear and dove towards the ground in a blind rage to annihilate Neo as the red-haired teen grins in response. 'Got him.'

* * *

*******BOOM!****BOOM****! ****BOOM****! ****BOOM****!***

Multiple explosions sounded in the park where Alex was fighting Raynare as the Fallen Angel chucked light spears packed with light energy at the blonde-haired Devil.

Each time the spears made contact with the ground, they exploded with a burst of light that left craters. Alex was barely managing to keep up with the constant bombardment of spears as he darted, avoiding the explosions. At the same time, he looked for a way to change the situation.

'Fuck! All I can do is run, and she keeps chucking those damn things when is this gonna end!?' Alex screamed in his head as he focused on dodging.

Anytime he tried to charge back at Raynare like before, she threw a particularly explosive spear that blasted him back, causing him to be vulnerable. He honestly wasn't sure how he had survived her assault for this long, but he knew it would soon come to a close as he could see Raynamre was beginning to pant in exhaustion.

'We're both starting to run low on gas, so now it's a matter of attrition, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to last.' Alex thought as he assessed the situation he was in. Not only did he have to continually exert energy to avoid the exploding spears, but through the course of the fight, Alex noticed that the [Boost] announcements were starting to cause him to be tired. He assumed it was because his Sacred Gear took stamina to use, so he recalled it, leaving him without the power-up it provided.

'He's slowing down!' Raynare noticed Alex's decline in speed as she took it as her chance and created one last exploding spear before chucking it near Alex, who tried to move but didn't have the strength to pull any more sharp movements.

***BOOM!***

"GAAAHAH!" Alex cried out as he took the blast and was sent flying several feet, crashing into the fountain before landing in the deposit of water on his back.

"Huff...huff..damit for a Low-Class Devil to push me this far, I don't even have any more strength to create another exploding spear." Raynare looked at her twitching hands in irritation as she conjured a single spear of light and floated to the ground where Alex was."

"Grm...ahhhnn." Alex groaned semi-unconscious as the light poisoning burned his body and made it hard for him to move.

"Tch. So you still managed to avoid a direct hit. But even still, the blast wave hit you with more than enough light to finish you, even so for good measure, I'll kill you with this.' Raynare declared as she held the tip of her spear to Alex's neck.

"STOOOOOP!"

Before Raynare could drive her spear into Alex's throat, a certain nun rushed to Raynare, launching her entire body against Raynare's as she held onto her tightly.

"I'll go…" Asia said with a whimpering voice. "I'll go with you, so please...please, just let me heal him and leave Alex-san and Neo-san alone…! Promise you won't hurt or kill them, and I'll do whatever you want!" Asia declared as Raynare scowled before reluctantly sighing.

"Very well. Trash like him isn't worth finishing off anyway. I have far more important things to tend to tonight after all." Raynare said as she held Asia in her arms with a smile, not of affection but malevolence. "Good girl, Asia. That's it. Problem solved. With today's ritual, you will be freed from your suffering."

Raynare said ominously as she released Asia from her grasp to allow the nun to heal Alex as she held a hand over her ear, and a magic circle appeared.

"Mittelt, tell Dohnaseek we have what we need. You haven't killed the other trash yet, correct?" Raynare questioned as her expression changed to a pissed off one from what her subordinate said.

"Well, I don't give a damn what that basterds mood is right now if he doesn't stop his attack then I'll kill both of you myself understood!" Raynare declared as she hung up on the other line.

After finishing her call, Asia seemed to already have returned from healing Alex as the Devil was beginning to awaken slowly rising from the fountain.

"Gruuggm…..Asia? What's going on? A-Asia, what are you doing!? Get away from her!" Alex groaned before he realized that Asia was standing by Raynare and quickly tried to rush out of the fountain but to no avail, as his exhausted legs buckled, and he fell to the ground.

"Alex-san. Thank you for being friends with someone like me." Asia said with a smile as tears streamed down her face.

"Shit! Asia wait, don't go with them!" Alex shouts as he tried to stand up only to fall to the ground as his legs give out again.

"Goodbye." Asia says her farewells as Raynare hugs the nun and covers her with her black wings.

"Low-class Devil looks like you were saved because of this girl. If you get in my way again, I will definitely kill you and your friend. Anyways, goodbye, Alex-kun." The Fallen Angel sneers at Alex one last time as she flies up to the sky while holding Asia and soon disappears, leaving only Alex, black feathers, and the plushie that Asia left behind.

Suddenly the words he said to Rias in Neo's apartment popped into his mind.

"—and besides, she saved my life, so I have to help her out to return the favor no matter what."

Alex began chuckling at his words as he saw that he was nothing but talk, and then suddenly-

"FUCK!" Alex roared as he slammed his fist on the ground as his rage numbed him to the pain.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Alex cursed as he continued to punch the ground to the point where he was drawing blood. If he had been human he would have shattered his hand on the first blow but his Devil body, as either a curse or a gift, allowed him to continue to punish himself for his weakness.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Neo Mittelt and Dohnaseek, things were progressing increasingly worse for the Fallen Angel pair.

Because of Neo's taunting, Dohnaseek had lost all sense of reason and was now reduced to a wild beast swinging his light spear maniacally, which Neo was able to dodge or, in some instances deflect off his Sacred Gear.

To make matters worse, anytime Mittlet tried to assist him, he would shout at her to "know her place" or worse swing at her to cut her down, making teamwork impossible.

After having the chance to observe Neo's fights twice, Mittlet noticed a pattern in Neo's fights where he would intentionally act or say things that get under the skin of his opponents and keeps pushing them till they snap like Dohnaseek was currently. This way, he had an easier time blocking or dodging his attacks, which was smart, seeing as Fallen Angles used a Devil's main weakness as their weapons.

This was the reason she proposed the sniping plan to Dohnaseek and had hoped that he'd keep his disdain for her at a minimum to at least see it through, but that wasn't the case.

"Dammit, what do I do? That retard is playing into the palm of his hand, and if I don't make him retreat soon, Lady Raynare will murder us both!" Mittelt said to herself as she tried to come up with a solution.

"Grrrgh! Huaggh! Chaa!" Dohnaseek shouted as he tried to slash Neo across his face, thigh, and stomach only for him to dodge and parry the strikes.

'Shit even with his pissed and sloppy moves this guy packs power.' Neo observed as another slash wisped past his face with a strong gust of wind following it.

'I need to finish him fast before things get too out of hand.' As Neo thought this, Dohnaseek madly swung his sword in a flurry of blind slashes as Neo bobs and weaves through the attacks.

'Now!' Neo sees his opportunity as he sees a slash come in from his right. With all his strength, he uses his armored right hand to knock back the attack, forcing Dohnaseek to open up his guard as he quickly comes back to his senses, realizing what's happening.

Taking his opportunity, Neo plants his feet into the ground before winding back his fist. "Sacred Gear activate!" Neo commands as the red jewel of his beige glove shines before a large amount of dark red aura pours out of it and envelopes Neo's body, and his hair spikes up.

"DIE!" Neo roared as he threw his powered up punch intending to end the fight with the combo of his Rook strength and Sacred gears power. Everything seemed to go fine before he was met with unexpected interference.

***DON!***

Mittelt suddenly swoops in and attempts to block the pouch with her light spear holding each end with her hands as she struggles under the sheer force. "Ngggnnnn!"

***CRACK! CRACK! SHATTER!***

Soon cracks began forming in her spear before it eventually gave way and shattered, sending her and Dohnaseek tumbling back a few feet.

'Shit, I got surprised by her jumping in and pulled back my fist a bit.' Neo cursed his overly cautious nature at that moment as he knew if he continued with his attack, he would have crashed straight through and landed a hit on at least one of them.

Meanwhile, as the two Fallen Angels were recovering from the force of the punch, Dohanseek glared down at Mittelt with a complex mix of emotions. Not only did she, a person he considered a creature almost as disgusting as Devils and pure Angels, interrupt his fight. But she also made him look, in his opinion, as a weakling, but she also ended up saving him from a life-ending blow.

Soon, however, Dohnaseek's other default emotion of anger took over as he raised his hand as if he was going to strike the girl. "How dare you! You ha-"

Mittelt cut him off short as she summoned a pole made of light and rammed it into his solar plexus as Dohnaseek toppled over in pain.

"GAAAH! Y-you bitch, what the hell are you!" Dohnaseek cried out in pain before falling to the ground as Mittelt looked at him with serious eyes.

"Sorry, Dohnaseek, but if I don't bring you back now, Lady Raynare will kill us both, so just shut up and comply." Mittelt said, drowning out the older man's voice as he eventually passed out from the pain as she hoisted him up over her shoulder and began to fly.

"You should be lucky Devil, you get to live, so I suggest you don't interfere with our plans unless you really do want to die." Mittelt said in a cold voice as Neo decided to back off from the fight recalling his Sacred Gear and aura.

"Big words coming from someone who hesitates like you did when you're trying to kill someone." Neo says, causing Mittelt's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance as he recalls how for the briefest moment, she halted her attack, and her cold eyes turned to ones like a girl her age which gave Neo time to defend himself.

Mittelt seemed to shake her head of the experience as she turned her back to Neo. "Instead of taunting me, how about you go check on your friend who we attacked and got our "prize" back from Red Devil-kun."

Hearing this, Neo's eyes widened like saucers as he understood what she meant and blitzed to the location of where he left Alex and Asia.

Taking a quick glance back, Mittelt looks at the direction Neo was headed with almost sad eyes as she recalls the shocked expression Neo made when she lept in the way of his attack as well as when he escorted her to the church.

"It's almost infuriating how you worry about someone as horrible as me you know that, Neo." Mittlet called Neo by his name for the first time before flying off to their base.

* * *

Running at top speed, Neo was shocked when he found the area where he left Asia and Alex or at least what was left of it.

The once peaceful park now looks as if it was the battleground between two small scale militia as craters littered the area and produced smoke.

"Alex! Alex, where are you!?" Neo shouted as he scanned the area before finding a blonde head peeking out from over the fountain.

"Alex!" Neo ran over to assess Alex's condition, hoping that what he found wasn't a corpse.

Upon reaching him, Neo was shocked to find the state Alex was in. Alex cradled his knees to his chest as his head was slumped down. Even still, Neo could see the damage he had taken as the jogging suit he gave Alex was burnt and in tatters as if it was caught in an explosion. "Dude, what the hell happened to you?!"

"...Neo?" Alex looked up at Neo as the red-haired teen was shocked by his friend's blank and defeated eyes.

"Alex, what happened? Where's Asia?" Neo asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"What do you think? They took her. That bitch Yumma or whatever her name is took her, and I couldn't do anything to stop her." Alex said as he clenched his fist at the memory.

"Well, what are you just sitting around for we already know where they are so we can-"

"What the hell is the point!" Alex roared, cutting Neo off as he stood up with his hair covering his eyes.

"I tried to protect Asia with everything I had, I even used my Sacred Gear, and I still couldn't win!" Alex shouted as Neo's eyes widened in shock from his outburst before shaking his head.

"But I'm here now so I can help fend them off while we rescue her!" Neo replied, even though he knew what he was saying was overly optimistic, especially for him.

"Really? Then why weren't you here when me and Asia were under attack?" Alex asked, causing Neo to flinch back.

"I was held up by two of their friends. It was the Fedora guy that killed me in the park and another Fallen Angel." Neo said, telling the truth.

"So that means that they at least have people to hold you back, right? Not to mention, we don't know how many exorcists they have. If we have to fight through all that even with you, we wouldn't make it out the damn door!" Alex again refuted Neo.

'Shit he's actually thought all of this through really well for once.' Neo thought in his mind. Usually, whenever the two made plans Alex, the optimist, would be the one to make them. At the same time, Neo, the pessimist, would pick apart all their flaws and possible downsides.

"Shit, I'm pathetic." Alex cursed himself, drawing Neo's attention. "I talked all that shit to Rias about how I would save Asia, but the whole time I was always relying on you saving both of us even when I was fighting, I was hoping I could run away and have you protect us. I'm such a fucking loser." Alex sunk deeper into his depression as Neo wore a blank expression.

"Haagh. Oi, Alex." Neo sighed as he walked up to Alex before suddenly-

***BAM!***

Neo rose a clenched right fist before socking Alex on his right cheek, making the blonde teen fall on his ass. "Aughh! What the fuck was that for asshole." Alex shouted as Neo grabbed him by his destroyed jacket and once again-

***BAM!***

"GAAHH WILL YOU FUCKING STOP!" Alex screamed after Neo punched him on his left cheek.

Neo meanwhile looked up towards the sky while wiping his forehead with his sleeve like he had just finished a tough day of labor. "Pheew. Welp Yukino, I did what I said I would; in fact, I got him twice." Neo said to nobody in particular.

"Huh? What in the hell are you talking about, and what did you hit me for!?" Alex questioned his friend's strange actions as Neo looked down at him before folding his arms.

"I did it cause you were being a total bitch. Why else?" Neo said matter a factly which pissed Alex off as he stood up and grabbed Neo by the collar.

"What the hell are you saying all I did was tell you that there's no point in trying if we're just gonna-"

"That! That right there is what I'm talking about. " Neo interrupted Alex causing the latter to become confused.

"What the hell is with that pathetic talk? So what if you couldn't overpower her! So what if you wanted to run for help! You put up this much of a fight against your enemy even though you wanted to run, but now you lost once and wanna give up!? That's what I mean when I say that you're acting like a total wimp." Neo pointed out as Alex was left speechless.

"The Alex I know is the type to never let someone get to him, and even if the situation was to get tough, he knows that I would always be there to back him up! So what in the hell are you doing wallowing in depression instead of getting off your ass and doing something!" Alex's eyes went wide as Neo shouted this causing him to slowly release Neo's collar.

Alex stood still for a few minutes with his head down before letting out a sigh."Haaah. If you're gonna butter me up that much, I guess I don't have a choice." Alex said as he lifted his head up, showing off his usual smirk. "Let's go steal Asia back from those crow bitches!"

Hearing that, Neo grinned as he raised up his right fist to his reinvigorated friend. "Looks like your back to being your old self, you dumbass."

"No thanks to you, decking the shit out of me you asshole." Alex responded, raising his right fist as well.

""Bones!"" The two friends said in unison as they fist-bumped.

"So, what's the plan? We storm the base and fight our way through all rescue the princess style? Or maybe we go with the stealthy ninja approach at night!" Alex listed off ideas as Neo shook his head. If one thing was for sure, it was that Alex definitely got his silly and optimistic nature back.

"Honestly, the second one doesn't sound too bad, but the first order of business is to go to your house to prepare, and also to get you some new clothes." Neo said, causing Alex to examine the burnt and tattered jogger that he was currently wearing.

"Right! But what do you mean by "prepare"?" Alex questioned as the two began walking to Alex's house.

"Not so fast." Neo said, waving his finger. "Before we get into that, I'm gonna need you to do something after you get changed." Neo said, causing Alex to become confused.

"Do...something? Like what?" Alex asked, causing Neo to grin at him.

"Well you said you wanted to be a ninja right? Every infiltration needs one essential thing, good old intel gathering." Neo said as Alex was still confused by what he meant.

* * *

'So this is what he meant by intel gathering.' Alex thought back to his conversation with Neo in the park as he was currently hiding in the tree line surrounding the church crouching down on branches that could support his weight as he wore a form-fitting camo hoodie and jeans.

'I know I was all gung ho about reading the place, but even having me sitting here spying is getting my nerves, especially because…" Alex paused as he looked through a pair of binoculars to see several groups of priests that were patrolling around the area.

The sun was starting to set as Alex watched the number of patrollers continue to increase as the night was beginning to approach.

'Neo said I should call him again once the patrols start dying down so I guess I'm gonna have to wait a bit longer, dammit this sucks.' Alex sighed as he continued to watch the patrolling priests.

* * *

_(Meanwhile Inside the Church)_

***SMACK!***

"Auugh!" Mittelt cried as the back of Dohnaseek fist painfully made contact with her cheek and knocked her to the ground.

Groaning on the ground, Mittelt was suddenly brought to her knees as Dohnaseek grabbed her by her shirt, staring her dead in her scared eyes with a furious look.

"D-Dohnaseek I-I'm sorry! I-i had to do it, or else Raynare would have killed us!" Mittelt said as she was struggling to breathe.

"Shut up." Dohnaseek said in a cold tone as he looked at Mittelt with anger and disgust. "I don't give a damn what you think you were doing halfling. Don't you dare interfere in my battles again, and don't ever assume you can take charge of my well being, you lowly bitch!" Dohnaseek spite at her venomously.

***CREAK!***

The sound of a door creaking opened caused Dohnaseek to look behind him as he saw a tall and buxom woman with brown eyes and long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye appear out of a room with a bottle of alcohol in hand. Her attire consisted of a maroon, trench coat-like top which was open at her chest, giving view to her breasts and cleavage and what appeared to be a white shirt underneath her top. However, it was only seen from the bottom. She also wore a gold necklace around her neck, with a wide collar as a matching miniskirt and black heeled shoes.

This was Kalawarner, a full-blooded Fallen Angel like Dohnaseek, who stayed behind to watch over the base. At the same time, the other three went out, not that it was an issue for her as all she ever did was drink or fool around with the pathetic human males of the town. However, Dohanseek decided not to bring up this matter.

"Would you let the kid go, Dohnaseek? It's almost time to do the ritual." Kalwarner said in a tone that didn't sound like a request showing their equal positions of power.

Dohanseek relents, releasing Mittelt, who gasps for air as he begins walking away. "You'd do best to stay inside instead of patrolling with me when the ritual starts, you halfling," Dohnaseek commanded rather than suggesting as he went to check on the setup of the ritual.

Leaving the two girls alone, Mittelt recovers herself as she whips the dust off her dress before looking at the older Fallen Angel. "T-thank you, Miss Kalwarner."

"You can drop the "Miss" kid, I only did it because if that loud ass didn't stop, I'd have a hard time enjoying my drink." Kalwarner says as she starts downing some of the bottle, reducing its contents to less than half as Mittlet sweat drops.

"R-right well, even so, you have my gratitude." Mittelt said as she starts walking to her corridors seeing as Kalwarner seems preoccupied with...her drink.

"Whatever, anyway, just try not to piss that guy off any more kid. He already doesn't like you since you're a halfbreed. Even I wouldn't be able to help you if you step on his toes any further." Kalwarner warns as Mittelt takes that advice to heart, giving a respectful bow to her superior before heading off to her room.

***CREAK! CLICK!***

Mittelt steps into her room before closing the door behind her as she sits on her bed and feels her swollen cheek.

As she feels the sting of the injury, Kalwarner's words replay in her mind. "It's not like I'm doing anything wrong besides saving that stupid assholes life!" She curses Dohnaseek as rage makes her cheeks flush red in anger.

"Were supposed to be teammates, but that fucking bastard treats me worse than he does those damn exorcists!" Mittelt shouted in a fury.

She wasn't exactly wrong in that statement. While she was sure that if any of the humans working for them dared to voice an opinion or not follow orders, Dohnaseek would surely annihilate them where they stood. But the problem was that like her, the humans followed their orders almost entirely. Yet Dohnaseek seems to go out of his way to point out and punish her for her actions.

'It's not like I don't know why, though.' She, of course, knew the reason, and if not, Dohanseek always reminded her of it. She was a halfling. Part human and part Fallen Angel, and that was what set her apart from her so-called comrades Angel and human alike. Similar to them but at the same time different, leaving her with no place to truly belong even with her own family.

"Enough of this!" She said to herself as she shakes her head and summons magic into her fingertips to heal her bruised cheek.

She didn't have time to reflect on those things at the moment. If they could complete the ritual and gain fame with the higher-ups of the Fallen Angels, then all of them, even a halfling like her, could find a place for themselves. This wasn't just what was driving the girl forward, but it was the only thing that kept her moving forward at all, and for that, she would do anything no matter how cruel or pathetic it may seem.

* * *

It was in the dead of night as Alex watched from a tree branch. He had begun to notice the increasingly slimming number of exorcists allowing him to move closer to the church but not near enough to trigger his Devil instincts.

He had already informed Neo of this, which he responded by saying he was on his way after finishing his preparations, leaving Alex wondering what he could have been up to for so long.

"Man, they've really started to clear out now I don't think I can see a single priest at this point." Alex whispered to himself.

"Yeah, I guess they've all gone down to do this ritual thing that bitch of a girlfriend told you about, huh?"

"Probably. Man, when in the hell is Neo gonna show…" Alex realized he heard another voice he didn't quite recognize talk to him.

Before he could make a reaction, a hand grabbed his mouth as he squirmed in terror.

"Dude, calm down. It's me." Neo said besides him wearing a medical mask over his mouth, which caused his voice to come out slightly muffled.

"DUDE WHY THE FUCK DID YOU SNEAK UP ON ME YOU DAMN LUNATIC!" Alex did as best he could to quietly shout at Neo, who he could tell was grinning behind his mask as he crouched on the same branch beside Alex wearing the same black jogger and undershirt as before with two duffle bags at his waist.

"Sorry, sorry. Anyways it's almost time to move, so get your ass in gear." Neo said to him as Alex scowled.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways what's in the bags that you've been preparing for the last couple of hours?" Alex pointed to the bags at Neo's side, who instead of talking simply slid over the bag.

Unzipping it, Alex was immediately hit with three smells he immediately recognized. The first was bleach, the second was various pesticides, and the third was alcohol that his dad kept in his garage that he often drank. Unzipping the bag further Alex's face paled as he found various bottles of beer, vodka, and etc. all from his dad's stock with what seem to be cloth shocked through their caps which had bags covering them which Alex guessed was to ensure the alcohol the were seemingly soaked in didn't get onto the other bottles or insides of the bag.

"Neo. What the fuck are these?" Alex asked with his expression covered by his hair as Neo had a blank expression.

"Their Molotov's obviously." Neo said matter factly, causing Alex to get in his face with an enraged expression.

"Not shit, dumb ass! Why did you make Molotov's out of my dad's shit!? Actually, why did you make FUCKING BOMBS IN THE FIRST PLACE!?" Alex hissed at Neo, who still had a deadpan expression.

"Firstly." Neo said, holding up a finger intending to answer Alex's first question. "Cause where else was I gonna find that much booze on demand. Secondly, we're about to raid a base full of around 3 Fallen Angels as well as a whole gang of evil psycho priests. Did you really think we were gonna be able to fight through all that? C'mon man, even you said we wouldn't make it out the damn front door. But with these, we can cut down their numbers." Neo said as Alex's expression died.

'That's the exact fucking opposite of what you said in the park!' Alex thought as he was ready to punch his friend out of the tree.

"Plus, I mixed in bleach and a bunch of different pesticides you guys have around your house, so these also work as makeshift chemical weapons. And if they're holding this ritual thing where I think they are, then those guys are fucked." Neo said confidently, grabbing Alex's attention.

"If you say so, I guess we'll deal with all the consequences after saving Asia." Alex said with a sigh as he put the matter aside, jumping down from the tree.

"Well said. Catch." Neo said as he let go of one of the bags which Alex caught from below before jumping down with the other one.

"Alex, before we go in, maybe you should try doing the promotion thing I talked about a few nights ago." Neo said, looking to Alex, who gave an uncertain look.

"Do you really think it will work that way? I mean, even if the **[Evil Pieces]** are based on chess, there's no guarantee it'll work like that?" Alex said slightly dismissive of it, but Neo simply rolled his wrist.

"Even if it doesn't, it's not like we have something to lose by trying it. Plus, if it does work, you could promote to a **[Rook]**, **[Knight]**, or **[Queen]** which would help close the gap some against all our enemies." Neo said as Alex nodded in agreement.

"Okay, what do I do?" Alex looked to Neo for advice.

"Well, when I'm trying to activate my **[Rook]** powers, I just think about making myself super strong like or being super tough like wall stuff like that. So I guess just think about the piece you wanna be." Neo shrugged.

Alex closed his eyes as he began thinking about his fight against Raynare and what he would have wanted to have. "I don't think it's smart to suddenly give myself super strength and durability that seems to only activate when I think about it like Neo. Plus, I've never been great at fighting. Not to mention when fighting Raynare after I put away Sacred Gear, I was struggling to run away and dodge her spears, so what I really need is the speed of a **[Knight]**.' Alex thought back to the speed Kiba displayed against the Stray Devil and wished that he could have it.

"Promotion, **[Knight]**!" Alex declared as a crimson aura coated his body as he felt the power settle in his legs, making them feel far more powerful than before.

"Holy crap, it worked!? It feels like I could run a marathon!" Alex said as he began jogging in place at high speed as Neo just started walking to the church.

"Oh, ok, so anyway, let's go save your next girlfriend, Romeo." Neo said as Alex shot him aglare.

"She isn't my girlfriend, we're just friends." Alex said, causing Neo to grin.

"Not for long knowing you."

"Whatever, it's a waste of time talking to you." Alex sighed as the two boys headed off nonchalantly in the raid on the church as if they were taking a stroll through the park. Not noticing the appearance of a weird bat-like creature watching them from the skies.

* * *

***BANG! BANG! DON!***

The doors of the church get blown off their hinges inward as they crash down on the sanctuary ground from the force of Neo's violent kicks.

"Man it feels good to destroy those creaky ass doors." Neo said with a relieved sigh as he walks in with Alex behind him shaking his head in disapproval.

"I mean that was total overkill, but sure whatever." Alex sighed as he began looking around.

He could tell the sanctuary had not been adequately used in years as all the pews and altars were covered in dust, and multiple cobwebs were seen everywhere. The sanctuary was dimly lit with only a few candles and the interior lamps keeping it from being in total darkness. However, probably the most noticeable thing was the statue of Christ on the cross had its head completely destroyed. From the looks of it, the damage was recent.

Before Alex could move further, Neo placed a hand, stopping his movements as his golden eyes darted around as he knew they were not alone.

"Wow, stray or not, I didn't think a priest who claims to be more righteous than us Devils would take to hiding on our arrival." Neo shouted as he waited for the mysterious figure to appear.

***CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!***

A steady beat of vigorous clapping sounds in the sanctuary as a priest like figure emerges from behind the pillar, causing Alex to cringe.

"My, my, my what excellent detective skills coming from a shitty Devil! And what's this? Oh, if it isn't Alex-kun, what a reunion! I'm so emotional!" A nightmare from Alex's past appears in the form of Freed with his maniacal grin.

"Freed!" Alex said the priest names spitefully, which Neo catches as he looks between the two who have encountered one another.

"Well, I never met the same Devil twice before! You know, since I'm super strong, I cut Devils into pieces when I first meet them! Once I see them, I cut them up on the spot! I then kiss the corpse and say goodbye! That's how I used to live! But because of you, my style is ruined, I'm so lost! And that's no good~. It's not good to interfere with my lifestyle~! That's why~! You've pissed me off! I hope you guys will die! Actually, die! You trashy Deeeeeeeeeeeevils!" Freed monologues as he quickly flips emotion from happiness to sadness and now rage.

Seeing the tiring display, Neo turns to Alex with an annoyed expression. "Is he always this...eccentric?"

"Unfortunately." Alex sighed as Freed finally took notice of Neo's presence.

"Wa, wa, wa? What's this now? Alex-kun, I didn't notice that you were inviting your Devil friend to our reunion, how embracing that I haven't introduced myself yet!" Freed said in a surprised voice as Neo raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Good evening, shitty Devil, my name is Freed Sellzen; I belong to this wonderful organization. I'm also the one who turned Alex-kun's leg into a looking hole with my gun before that bastard played dirty and ran away. Ah, but you don't need to introduce yourself, seeing as I'll be killing you before it matters." Freed said before pulling out his gun and sword hilt.

***VOOM!***

Freed clicks a switch on the handle causing blade of light to appear,

'Holy shit he has a fucking lightsaber! That's so cool!' Neo thought to himself as he kept a calm expression.

"You guys came to rescue Asia-tan, right? Hahaha! Devils are big-hearted for coming to rescue a bitch like that who would even heal Devils! Well, just being entranced to a Devil is enough reason for her to die.

'Die! What's he talking about!?' Alex thinks hearing the priest's words before shaking his head. "Shut the hell up and just tell us where she is bastard!" Alex yells, causing Freed to grin at his desperation.

"Well-"

"There are hidden stairs under that altar. From there, we will be able to go to the place where they're most likely doing the ritual. It's a large underground space that can fit a lot of people." Neo explains, cutting Freed off as he points to the altar in question.

"Well, look at the Devil doing his homework about the enemy base." Freed said, impressed but with an irritated expression at Neo's interruption.

"Thanks and all but receiving a compliment from human shit like you doesn't do me any favors, so drop it." Neo said coldly as his eyes were hidden by his hair as he set down his bag and began walking to one of the pews.

"Honestly, I'm sick and tired of you running your damn mouth so why don't you shut the fuck up…" Neo paused as he grabbed on to the pew with one hand and, in a fantastic feat of strength, lifted it above his head. "...and die."

After saying that, Neo tossed the pew at the priest who danced cheerily in place before slashing the pew as it was paper.

"Wow! Nice try you retarded Devil, but since you don't like me talking, you can just die now you piece of shit!" Freed said as he held up his gun, pointing it at Neo, who stood motionless.

"Neo mov-"

***BASHIIN!***

Alex was cut off by the sound of the bullet colliding with Neo's skull as he fell on his back. Alex wasn't even given time to react as Freed let off a psychotic cackle.

"What a fucking loser! He was talking so tough too, but it looks like a stupid shitty Devil is always just gonna be a- HMM!" Freed stops talking as he notices a shadow was cast over his form.

"What the fu-!" Looking up, Freed sees the cause of the shadow is another pew that was coming down to crush him.

***THUD!***

Freed manages to dash out of the way as he looks to the location of the pew and is shocked to find Neo standing up perfectly fine.

'Damn, I thought I had him with my sneak attack, but the guys pretty fast.' Neo thinks as he analyzes Freed's movement.

Meanwhile, Alex was starting dumbfounded as his friend, who was shot in the head, was now perfectly fine. "W-wait Neo, you're alive! B-but how!?"

"I'm a **[Rook]**, remember? I figured that I could tank something simple like a bullet even if it's made of light." Neo explained calmly as he kept his eyes on Freed, who was growing more and more enraged.

"Anyways, Alex, take the bags and go hide. Things are about to get serious." Neo orders while taking off his jacket and throwing it to the ground as Alex makes hast to get out of the way.

"Tch! So you're a **[Rook]** well that just means I need a different approach. Won't be needing this!" Freed tosses his gun aside before reaching into his coat and pulls out and activates another bladeless handle as he now wields a light sword in both his hands.

"Now, I have two times the cutting power, meaning I get two times the FUN!" Freed exclaimed as waves his swords maniacally.

"Well, since you're busting out toys, I guess I'll use mine too. Sacred Gear!" Neo summons his Sacred Gear and immediately activates it as his body is coated in a dark red aura.

"Bring it." Neo says as he moves into a battle stance, and his sharp eyes become more focused like those of a beast.

***SWIFT!***

Freed suddenly disappears from sight causing Alex to flashback to Kiba's feat of speed during the Stray Devil hunt as he worries for Neo's safety.

Neo, however, remained still as he focused on his senses waiting for the sign of Freed's attack.

"You may be strong, but you're a sitting duck when it comes to my speed like SO!" Freed shouts as he blitzes behind Neo, slashing horizontally at his waste.

***CHINK! CHINK!***

"Wha-!" Neo manages to quickly turn around and deflect both slashes off his armored hand as he throws a straight punch at Freeds face, which he dodges.

Neo sweeps his leg, attempting to trip the priest, but he manages to dodge by jumping into the air.

"Die! Die! Die! Die!" Freed shouts from above as he positioned his swords to stab downwards.

"Hmph!" Neo calmy kicks up the jacket he discarded slightly blocking Freed's view of him as he hops back out of his blade's attack.

***SCHLING!***

Freed's blades pierce through the jacket before stabbing into the ground.

"Hahaha! That's it Devil! Try and fight back if all you do is run; you'll just bore me!" Freed taunts Neo who still wore a calm and focused expression as the priest dashes to the red-haired teen unleashing a flurry of slashes.

***CHINK! CHINK! CHINK! CHINK!***

Neo, unfazed by the attack, managed to block and deflect the attacks off his armored hand despite the immense speed difference between the two fighters, which perplexed both Freed and Alex.

'How is he able to dodge and block that guy when he's as fast as Kiba?" Alex looked in wonder as Neo seemed to effortlessly avoid Freed's crazy fast attacks, which only pissed off the white-haired priest more.

'This guy oozes a ton of bloodlust, but when he attacks, he focuses it in a general area, which makes it easy for me to predict his attacks as long as I can read it. In that regard, he is worse than your run of the mill delinquent I fight on the daily. The only problem is that he still has his super-speed and reflexes, so it's hard to manage a hit on him. I've gotta end this fast though.' Neo thought as he tried to think of a way to create an opening before being hit with an idea.

Neo quickly crouches and raises his right arm as he prepares to strike the ground with all his strength.

"RRRAAAGGH!"

***DOOOOON!***

Neo roars as he punches the ground with immense force kicking up a large amount of dust and rubble as freed has to halt his attack.

"Shit! Where did that damn dirty Devil go!? There's so much dust that I can't see! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" Freed curses as he grows annoyed at Neo's continued tricks as he suddenly sees a shift in the cloud of dust.

***PA! PA! PA! PA!***

Shooting out of the dust cloud with intense force were four football sized pieces of rubble all aimed at Freed.

"Ha, that's it!? Weak sauce!"

***VROOM! VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!***

As Freed mocks Neo's attack, he makes quick work of the projectiles by cutting them all in half with his blades as he rushes into the dust cloud now knowing of Neo's location.

'HAHAHAHHA! Not I finally get to cut up that stupid redhead, and once I do, I'll have fun torturing that shitty blonde Devil! Nobody can stop the mighty Freed-sam-! Wait, is that a fist?'

***DOYAN! THUD!***

"GRRAGH!" Freed cries in pain as Neo, who snuck to the left side of Freed, drives his armored fist into the priest's face, breaking his nose in the process as he is sent flying back into a pillar and hits it with a loud thud.

"Finally got a hit on him." Neo says with a sigh as he walks out the dust cloud with a smirk as he looks to his right hand and thinks about the weird but familiar sensation he felt when he punched Freed.

"Holy shit, you finally hit that bastard! Is he done?" Alex asks as he begins to emerge from his hiding spot, but Neo signals him to stop.

"No, before I hit him, he seemed to use one of his swords to mitigate the blow. Look, he's already stood back up." Neo motions with a nod as Alex looks over to see a groaning Freed standing up as blood spews from his face.

"Don't you fuck with me, you trashy Devil, how dare you punch me in my beautiful face! I'll kill you! I'll chop you up into little pieces and shit on the remains you BASTARDDD!" Freed howls as his eyes are bloodshot with rage as he grips his bloody and broken nose with one hand and his remaining light sword in the other.

While Alex flinched back a bit in fear of the man's intense bloodlust, Neo's smirk grew into a malicious grin as his fingers twitched by his side, and his eyes became bloodthirsty.

"That's fine. In fact, I dare you to try it priest. I've already memorized your crazy attack style, and speed plus I can sense your bloodlust, meaning I can hit you no matter how fast you move. But let me warn you." As Neo spoke, the dark red aura that surrounded his body seemed to stir more violently as the light in his eyes faded.

"The next time you enter my range, I won't just beat the shit out of you. I'll kill you, so come on. Let's have a test between you and my intentions to kill, you shitty priest." Neo said as his aura seemed to radiate the same murderous intent as Freed as Alex stood motionless in fear at the twos standoff.

While Alex expected that Freed would go on the attack, he seemed to look Neo up and down before relaxing his body and gradually moved out of his fighting stance, seemingly noticing that he was disadvantaged.

"Wow, wow. Is this what you call a crisis? Hmm, for me, getting killed by a Devil is a no-no, so I feel like retreating. It's a shame that I can't exorcise you basterds, but I also don't want to die! So..." As Freed says this, he takes out a round ball-like object and smashes it onto the floor as it releases a shining light blinding Neo and Alex.

"Sh-shit! I can't see!" Alex cries out as he shields his eyes while Neo grunts doing the same.

Once the light dies down and the two boys' eyes recover, they look around and notice that Freed was missing with only his broken sword, gun, and a puddle of his blood being left behind, but his voice ing out somewhere in the darkness.

"Hey. The red-headed Devil over there! Alex-kun said your name was…Neo-kun, was it? To tell you the truth, I have fallen in love with you. So I will definitely kill you in the worst way possible. Definitely, okay? I won't ever forgive the Devil who broke my nose and then tried intimidating me. After I cut off your limbs, all make you watch as I torture Alex-kun, so look forward to it, okay? Then, bye-bye." Freed leaves his parting words as the boys don't feel any trace of him.

Alex realized that he was truly gone, and didn't dwell on it as he handed Neo both bags. "C'mon, we've gotta save Asia!" He says a Neo nods in agreeance walking over to the altar to reveal the hidden stairs.

Looking to the side, Alex notices the gun Freed tossed away and picks it up. 'Might come in handy after all.' Alex thinks as he slides the gun into his pants as he and Neo run down the revealed altar thinking one final time that he would save Asia.

'Asia, hold on, we're coming!'

**END**

* * *

**Hello everyone! Crazy that I managed to get another chapter out before the end of the month, but man does it feel good. This is my second longest chapter yet, and it's packed with a ton of fight scenes, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Now that we're coming to a close on this first arc, I just wanted to thank everyone once again that's been with me on this journey so far. I'm happy that I was able to make it this far and hope to continue providing you all with the content you enjoy. I hope I can wrap this arc up in another long chapter, but if not, I'll probably make a short chapter just to end it off as we move into the Riser arc where things can really get fun. Anyways here are the reviews that I received from the last chapter:**

**Evowizard25 - Thanks for always leaving reviews on my latest chapters. It makes me happy to have a recurring reviewer out there. Lol, I do notice that I've made Alex and Neo curse a lot in front of Asia, but they are delinquents, so what can you do. I also agree with your opinion that too many fics villanies Rias who had no emotional connection to Asia at the point telling the protag to leave her alone. I wanted to make it so the scenes portray that even though Alex is not doing anything objective wrong at the end of the day, he is being led by emotions, and Neo is going along with him for his own reasons, which will be revealed later. I am also glad people seem to be liking what I am doing with Mittelt, seeing as she sent have much to go off of in the canon story. I've basically had to do her personality from scratch so I'm happy you're enjoying her development.**

**winddemon199 - Greetings, and thank you for leaving a review! I'm glad you're enjoying the story even though it is a genre you don't like. I get annoyed with harems and their troupes to a degree, so I hope in this fic I can break away from the things I feel hold back the genre. Like female characters wanting to be with the Mc just because of one action or favor. Or how the Mc blue-balls themselves regularly to the approach of love interests because of the plot. Highschool DxD usually isn't as bad at this first point as other series, but I do want to have more romantic build up other than "He helped me so now I'll immediately fall for him" type thing. As for the second one, I'll try my best to avoid writing those annoying situations, plus Alex and Neo's personalities help the chance of if not being as bad.**

**Well on that note I hope you all can stay healthy, these are trying times we are in with corona and all so hopefully you all and your loved ones stay safe during them.**

**That's all from me. Please continue to read and review.**


	7. Raid on the Church Part 2:

**Part 2: Alex's Determination! The Awakening of a New Red Dragon!**

* * *

In the underground sanctuary, many stray exorcists gathered as they watched the ritual go underway.

Their attention was on their leader, the Fallen Angel, Raynare, who was at the end of the room atop the altar they constructed for ritual.

Also, on the altar was Asia, dressed in a white gown as she was chained to a large cross as a green aura oozed out of her body and into the cross as she seemed to grow weaker by the second.

Everything seemed to be going well until-

***BOOM!***

"Sup bitches the calvaries arrived!" Alex called out as he burst into the room, causing all the stray exorcists to pull out their light swords. They would have attacked, but the words of their boss suddenly sounded through the sanctuary.

"Stand down!" Raynare commanded as she looked at Alex with a cocky smirk.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Alex-kun. But where in the world is your little Devil friend?" Raynare asked as Alex looked back at her with a scowl.

"I don't need him here to save Asia from you! Now let Asia go before I come up there and beat your crow ass!" Alex threatened as he summoned his Sacred Gear and pointed to Raynare.

"Oh my, how bold of you." Raynare said in a teasing voice before settling back to her serious expression. "However, it's too late. The ritual is just about done now."

"W-what?" Alex said out loud, confused by Raynare's meaning before Asia's body began glowing.

"…Aaah, iyaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Asia screamed out in pain as causing Alex to try to run to her before he was blocked off by the surrounding priests.

"I won't let you interfere!"

"Damn, Devil! I will destroy you!"

The priests shout at him preparing to skewer him with his swords before suddenly-

***SHATTER! FWOOSH!***

"GYAAAAAH!" A priest screamed in pain as a bottle came flying to his face before shattering and erupting into a wave of flames that stuck to the man's upper body.

"W-what the hell!?"

"A firebomb!? Was it magic!?"

"And what is this smell coming from the flames? It smells like chemicals!?"

The priest shouted in disorder as they focused on the corridor and saw a flame flicker on in the passage. Igniting the cloth connected to the bottle, they saw the visage of Neo illuminated by the light.

"D-dammit another fucking Devil! Kil-"

The priest was cut off before he could command the others as Neo threw his second Molotov as he was left to meet the same fate as the priest before.

After that, Neo began attacking in earnest as he lit multiple bottles at once before tossing them as the firebombs rained down on the priest and disorganized them.

"GAAAAH! FUCK IT's HOT! IT'S FUCKING HOT!"

"*COUGH!* COUGH!* *COUGH!* Dammit, what the hell did he put in these damnable things!"

"I-I-can't *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Breathe!"

The priest cried out as the corridor was filled with screams, and the smell of burnt flesh, smoke, and chemicals.

'Just what you fuckers get for holding this damn thing in an unventilated corridor. As far as I'm concerned, you can all burn to fucking death!' Neo thought darkly as he tossed another bomb, managing to hit two priests as they tried to pat out the flames but to no avail.

As he watched the carnage scene unfold, Neo felt dark emotions begin to stir within him as Neo, without knowing so, smirked at the men's suffering.

Alex meanwhile wore a medical mask he got from Neo to try and bear the toxic fume circumventing the corridor as he began running to the altar with incredible speed.

Some of the priests tried to stop him by swinging their swords, but Alex, with his great reflexes, simply pivoted or swirled past them, and once their guard was down, Neo would and landed a hit on them to the back.

With a great leap, Alex made it to the top of the altar, but he seemed to have arrived too late as…

"Iyaaaaaa!…" Asia lets out a final scream before her body limps, and a green light is extracted from her body as Raynare laughed maniacally as she clasps it in her hands.

"This is it! This is the power that I craved for so long! With this, I will be loved!" Raynare said in ecstasy as she hugs the light before as its radiance spreads through the underground corridor.

After the light dies down, Raynare emerges covered in a green glow.

"Ufufu. Ahahahahahaha! I finally have it! The supreme power! With this, I can become a supreme Fallen Angel! With this, I can pay back all those who were looking down on me!" Raynare laughs confidently as Alex, instead of paying her mind, runs to Asia.

Some of the priests try to stop him but are met with Neo's relentless assault, either blocking their path or striking them directly. Of course, some managed to make their way to Neo, but they were no match for him in close combat being defeated in a single hit even with their light swords.

Alex looks at Asia and begins to grow fearful as the girl attached to the cross looking drained of life but tries to shake off his negative thoughts as he undoes the restraint as gently holds her in his arms.

"…A-Alex-san…"

"Y-yo, what's up Asia. You miss me much? I came to get you." Alex said with a smirk trying to make a joke in the situation as a lump was forming in his throat as he felt Asia's body growing cold in his hands.

"…Yes." Asia gave a small but sincere reply to his joke, attempting to provide him with a smile, but she lacked the strength.

"Aw, how sweet. Sweet, but futile." Raynare smirked as she stood confidently over the blonde duo.

"Possessors whose Sacred Gear is taken away from their body will die. That girl is going to die." She said as a fact which pissed Alex off.

"Then give her Sacred Gear back!" Alex said in a commanding tone causing Raynare to laugh.

"There's no way that I'll give it back, you moron. You know I even deceived my superiors into getting my hands on this? I will kill all of you and erase all evidence."

Hearing this, Alex's face scrunches into disgust as he looks to Asia's pained expressions and struggling breaths. "Shit! I can't believe I ever dated a bitch like you."

Raynare laughed out loud as she heard this. "Fufufu, it was pretty fun the time I spent on that date. After all, what's cuter than playing around with pathetic guys who have no experience with a woman."

"Ahahaha! Yeah! Really?! Did you get into a fight for such a thing? It was an ordinary date to the point I was nearly bored to death!"

"...I was serious about planning our date. I went through so much to try and take care of you. I even got into a fight with my best friend to date you!" Alex said as tone of voice began spiking more and more.

"Ahahaha! Yeah! Really?! Did you get into a fight for such a thing? It was an ordinary date to the point I was nearly bored to death!"

"…Yuuma-chan." Alex said bitterly as the memories of the girl he dated that went by that name made him want to vomit.

"Ufufu, oh that? I chose the name Yumma because it meant "setting sun." I thought it was fitting since I planned to kill you at sunset. However, I didn't expect to kill your friend that day too. Man If I knew casting a basic charm spell would cause all of that to happen, I would have done so sooner." Raynare sneers as Alex's rage boils inside of him until it reaches his breaking point.

"YOU FUCKING WHOOORREE!" He roared in anger as he bared his canines at the Fallen Angel.

"You damn brat, what did I tell you about insulting me you low-class shit stain!" Raynare retaliates as she summons a spear in her hand and launches it down before a sudden interference comes in.

***SHATTER! FWOOSH!***

Before the spear could get within a foot of Alex, a Molotov flew in and exploded, making a wall of flame between the two blondes and the Fallen.

Looking at the source of the explosive, Raynare found that Neo was surrounded by a large number of priest bodies, either seemingly unconscious or heavily burned.

"Alex, we don't have time for this shit, just grab the nun and run!" Neo shouted as more began running after them even with the noxious chemical odor afflicting them.

'Dammit!' Alex cursed himself as he knew Neo was right. If they stayed any longer, they were going to be overrun. Picking Asia up bridal style, Alex began dashing to the exit.

Neo noticed some of the priests fighting through the smoke and noxious chemicals as they attempted to run to Alex.

'Oh no you don't!' As he thought that Neo gripped one of the thick wooden doors and began pulling on it as it snapped off its hinges. He began to spin with the door as he gathered speed before releasing it like a saucer.

"GAAAUH!"

"IYAAAHHH!"

"FAAAAUU!"

The exorcist cried in pain as they were sent flying by the rotating projectile.

"Nice one, bro!" Alex shouted to Neo with a grin as his path was now clear. "Asia makes sure to cover your face cause we're heading in!" Alex commanded as he leaped to the ground where the smoke was the thickest heading straight to the passage at once as Neo covered for him.

"You imbeciles what the hell are you doing!? After them!" Raynare ordered from atop the altar as she watched the two boys escaping with Asia.

Her orders did not reach the priest below as Neo's attacks devastated their ranks, and they needed time to recover from the fits of coughing, burns, and physical attacks.

"Useless filth!" Raynare said, clicking her tongue in disgust as she took to the skies with her wings. "I'll just have to go after them myself."

And with that, she flew out of the underground in hot pursuit.

* * *

"Holy shit, we made it, but what now!" Alex shouted to Neo as he ran with Asia cradled in his arms.

Suddenly, Neo stopped in the center of a four-way hallway causing Alex to look back, confused.

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing where not that far from the exit lets go!" Alex said as Neo kept his gaze to the left hallway.

"Alex, let's split up, you go on ahead." Neo said, causing Alex's eyes to go wide with shock.

"Are you crazy?! What are we gonna do if they come after us individually? We have Asia, let's just go!" Alex argued as he grew tenser and tenser.

"I know but, you have to trust me on this. Just run out the front and don't look back, ok?" Neo said.

"Besides, you need to get Asia some help and fast." Neo added as he looked at Asia, whose complexion was pale.

Alex flashed a pained expression knowing that Neo was right as he sighed. "Fine. But you have to promise me you'll make it out alive! If you die, I won't forgive you, you hear!" Alex said as he extended his fist.

Neo smirked as he did the same. "It's a promise."

""Bones!"" The two boys fist-bumped as Alex quickly ran off with Asia, his **[Knight]** speed causing him to vanish from sight promptly.

Turning to the left corridor, Neo's eyes became sharp with bloodlust as he cracked his middle finger with his thumb. It was an unconscious habit that came out when he was pissed off or preparing himself for a fight.

"Sorry, Alex but I can't leave until I settle up with that fucking bastard." He said to himself with an image of Dohnaseek coming to mind as he began running to a specific location, not noticing a certain Blonde Lolita trailing behind him.

* * *

Finally, making it up the stairway and back into the sanctuary, Alex let out a relieved sigh as he looked at Asia's pale face. "Hey, Asia, stay with me! We made it out ok just wait a little longer, and I'll get you some help." Alex tried to reassure her, but the girl had grown so weak.

"…I was…" Asia tried to speak, but she struggled to get the words out as Alex set her on a pew to reserve her strength.

"…I was happy that…I had a friend…even for a short while…" Asia said with a smile even through all her pain.

"…If I were to be born again, will you become my friend once more…?" Asia asked Alex as he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He couldn't keep up his charade anymore as the pain was eminent on his face. He didn't want to accept it, but he knew that Asia was dying.

"What are you saying? Of course, I would, you idiot! Even if nobody else would, I'd choose to be your friend just like now! I'd make sure we would have a blast every day! We still can, so just don't give up, ok?!" Alex said desperately, still clinging to hope as he could feel tears flowing down his face.

"…If I was born in this country…and went to the same school as you…"

"Fine, if that's what you want, then we'll make it happen! I mean I might not look like much, but I'm sure I could find a way to-"

Suddenly Asia's hand reaches out and cups Alex's cheek.

"…For you to cry even for…...someone like me…...now I can…" Asia's hand slowly drops before finishing her words.

"…Thank you…"

And with those parting words, the sanctuary fell to silence.

Alex's blue eyes stared emptily at the girl's lifeless body as he had to face the reality of her demise.

'Why? Why did I even try to do anything?' That thought plagued him as he thought of his short interactions with the blonde nun.

'Why did I have to give you hope for a better life when I'm so fucking useless!' His thoughts flashed from grief to anger as more tears dropped from his eyes, yet his face remained emotionless.

'Why does someone like you who is only ever worried about other people have to suffer like this? Why did you have to get involved with someone as shitty as me who can't even keep a promise? Why...why couldn't you just be happy?' Alex thought to himself out as he clenched his teeth in grief and regret.

"Ara, a Devil is repenting in a place like this? Or were you just wishing for something?" Suddenly a voice broke through the silence.

Though Alex didn't turn around to face it, he already knew who it belonged to as Raynare stood smirking at the sight before her.

"Hmm, and what's this? Where'd your little red-headed friend go? Don't tell me he went and abandoned you! My Alex-kun, you seriously need to pick better friends though I guess it's too late for that now." Raynare mocked; however, Alex didn't respond to her provocations; instead, he just sat crouched over Asia's lifeless body with his head hung seemingly in despair.

"Well, whatever." Raynare shrugged her shoulders before holding out one of her hands. "**[Twilight Healing]**." She called forth Asia's Sacred Gear as a green light enveloped her hands before forming into the pair of rings Alex saw after escaping from Freed.

"Look. Wonderful, isn't it? I can heal any kind of wound. To us, Fallen Angels, who lost God's protection, that child's Sacred Gear was a wonderful present." Raynare said, leaving out that she had to kill Asia to acquire it or rather for someone like Raynare, taking human life was probably the same to her as stepping on ants with the only difference being that she could enjoy watching them suffer and scream before their demise.

Alex began to realize that even though he was a Devil, a being often labeled as cruel deceivers and manipulators, the thing behind him was far worse.

"With this power, my status will rise since I will be a Fallen Angel that can heal other Fallen Angels. I could be of help to the great Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama! There is nothing more wonderful than this! Aaah, Azazel-sama… My power is all for you…" Raynare moaned in euphoria as she said the names of the Fallen Angel leaders. Though he didn't fully understand the context, Alex could discern the type of women laid behind him from her words.

'Killing me, killing Neo, and now even Asia. She did all this just so that her higher-ups would notice her? Just so that she could be more useful to them?' As he thought this, Alex's eyes flashed with hatred as a part of the pew he was gripping started cracking under the force of his grip.

"Disgusting." Alex said, aiming to insult Raynare as the cocky Fallen Angel turned to the crouched blonde Devil. "You're so utterly blinded by your sick fucking devotion that you would drag an innocent girl into your selfish conflict only to make yourself stand out more to impress your bosses."

"Innocent girl? Drag? Please, she was a chosen human that possessed a Sacred Gear; she was never an outsider in this, to begin with." Raynare said matter of factly.

"What the hell does it matter if she had power! That still doesn't mean she had to die! It doesn't mean that she couldn't have lived and been happy just because she possessed it!" Alex finally snapped as he raised his voice in the dark sanctuary.

"She couldn't. Those with irregular Sacred Gear would be left out of the world and groups. After all, they possess a powerful ability because they have a different power than others. You know humans hate those things, right? Even though it's an incredible power like this." Raynare explained as she showed off her Sacred Gear once more.

She expected Alex to try and make another argument maybe about how he would be her savior or some childish nonsense such as that but instead was met with an odd silence as Alex fully stood up looking to the roof of the church.

"What's this, are you praying or something? You realize you're a Devil, right? No matter how hard you try, God won't listen to lowly scum such as yourself so why try you may as well give up and let yourself be killed." Raynare said with a sadistic expression as she summoned a light spear ready to impale Alex through his open back.

"Fucking vultures." Alex said in a low voice, which Raynare heard, causing her to be confused by his meaning.

"What?" She asked in response, lowering her spear a bit.

"Neo told me that to him all you fuckers seem like vultures that can only abuse and pick on the weak. But then you bastards have the guts to justify yourselves as a higher race when you're really lower than shit!" Alex said with a dark laugh as he turned around to face Raynare.

Rather than a pathetic sobbing face or an inraged one, like she was expecting Alex's face, was unnervingly calm as his face aside from his scrunched eyebrows was relaxed. Raynare almost mistook him for having stopped caring about the situation entirely until she saw his eyes, his ocean blue eyes which seemed always to be reflecting his carefree and clown-like attitude, was gone and was replaced with cold murderous intent.

"You fucking vultures are nothing but blights that need to be wiped out!" As Alex said those venomous words, the jewel on his Sacred Gear begins to flash on and off as if waiting for something to trigger it.

"You think that after everything you've done, you fuckers just get to leave here, no questions asked?! Fuck that!" Alex shouted as the restraints on his rage began breaking away. "If my master won't stop you and God chooses not to save the people you hurt, then fuck both of them! I'll take down all you fucking bastards and make you pay for what you've done! You are all going **DOWN**!" Alex roars, as the jewel on his gauntlet releases a bright shine.

* * *

_(Meanwhile with Neo)_

"Shit where the hell is he?" Neo said out loud as he ran down an empty corridor, continually checking his surroundings.

"Dammit! Did he not catch it? I left Alex to fend for himself to pursue him. I have to find him!" Neo began panicking as he started doubting if he should turn back.

***ZVROOM!***

"What the fu-!" Neo shouted out loud as a pink light spear suddenly zoomed past him as he dodged only by a hair's breadth.

Neo recognized the color and shape of that spear, and as he looked forward, his suspicion of his attacker was confirmed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Blonde Lolita! So do you specialize in sneak attacks, or are you just too scared to do anything else?" Neo taunted Mittelt, who blocked his path.

She didn't respond to his taunt but stood motionless with her hair covering her eyes as her voice crept out quietly. "Why…"

"What?" Neo asked not to hear the girl.

"Why did you come here?" Mittelt asked with irritation in her voice, which Neo was puzzled by.

"The hell does it matter to you why I'm here? Your enemies who have threatened my life multiple times. It shouldn't be that weird for me to attack your base." Neo explained not realizing Mittelt's reason for doing this.

"You're such a damn fool! You realize that you'll die, don't you! You, your friend and, that nun! After you had a chance to survive if you looked the other way, you're just gonna throw it out the damn window!?" Mittelt shouted, becoming visibly enraged at the red-haired teens' suicidal actions after he had the chance to be spared.

Neo was utterly lost at Mittelt's anger towards his actions. Why should an enemy care if he killed himself or not? And why was she so eager to question him about it instead of attacking him? Those were the questions that bounced around his mind, but what was even more puzzling to him was that he decided to answer her. "Well... it's not like I'm too attached to living in the first place. As for Alex, let me just say that idiot won't die; he's too damn lucky and too damn stubborn to keel over for any of you. And as for looking the other way…" Neo's eyes then flashed an expression of cold rage and bloodlust that Mittelt hadn't noticed before. "That shit can't happen when I know the fucker that killed me is still breathing so step aside or else." As he said that Neo summoned his Sacred Gear and got into a battle stance intending to hold nothing back.

"Such a fool you think you could beat Dohnaseek?" Mittelt sighed as she raised her hand and created her pink light spear. "Don't make me laugh! Before you have the chance to destroy yourself in front of him, I'll... I'll... I'LL KILL YOU!" Mittelt roared as she looked up for the first time with her intention of murdering him made clear, she spread her wings and blitzed forward.

Reading her spear, Mittelt attempts to decapitate Neo with a horizontal slash, which avoids by ducking under the spear.

Noticing the quickness and lack of hesitation in her slash, Neo notes that Mittelt intends to seriously kill him.

"You're open!" Mittelt shouts as she catches Neo off guard, rearing back her leg as she delivers a kick to the side of Neo's head, which he barely manages to block with his left arm.

Neo was about to take the chance and grab the girl's leg, but Mittelt was quicker and twirling her spear she pointed the bladed end to Neo's chest and attempted to run it through him.

***SLLICCKK!***

"Guh!" Neo grunted as he managed to swerve away from the blade but failed to do so entirely as the blade cut his right shoulder.

'Arrgh! Fuck this hurts.' Neo screamed mentally as he looked at his wound. Although it wasn't deep and he had received worse cut wounds in the past, this was his first experience with light poisoning as a devil, and needless to say, it hurt like a bitch.

'Now I know what Alex was talking about when he said getting hit with light was something different.' Neo rubbed his wound as he gained distance from Mittelt, who was still blocking his path to where he needed to go taking a defensive stance.

'I've gotta find a way to either beat her or get past her to find that Fedora bastard. I can't take too much damage here, or else It'll make fighting him too difficult.' Neo racked his brain to think of how to deal with his current situation, something that Mittelt noticed and refused to let happen.

"I won't give you time to think, Devil!" Mittelt shouted as she flew forward again as Neo widened his battle stance to take a more defensive approach.

'I didn't want to have to use this thing again before meeting him, but if she comes at me this fiercely, I don't have a choice.' Neo thought as he cast a glance to his Sacred Gear.

"Sacred Gear activate!" Neo commanded as the jewel of his Sacred Gear shines before releasing a dark red aura, increasing his strength; however, Neo's eye twitches in annoyance. He noticed the lack of aura and power increase compared to his battle in the park and against Freed.

'Shit just like against that priest my power barley increased compared to that time I was in the park when it felt like it tripled! That Fedora Bastard said this thing doubles my power, but it's so inconsistent is it defective?!' Neo's thoughts were beginning to trail off, but he reeled them back as he noticed Mittelt was closing in and had to focus on the fight.

"Hyyoorah!" Mittelt let out a battle cry as she went for another thrusting attack, which Neo now with his energy increased to an extent, spun to the right around the tip of the spear, and tucked his body inward to avoid being sliced from the light spears awkwardly shape.

Now in a position to attack, Neo put all his weight into his right arm as he grabbed his right fist with his left and attempted to drive his elbow into Mittelt's approaching face.

***FWAP!***

Still, Mittelt reacted too quickly as she flapped her wings to elevate herself before planting her foot on his elbow. She then used it as a springboard as she backflipped into the air.

Neo was sent stumbling forward by the action but was confused why a Fallen Angel, who possessed the ability of flight, would resort to such a tactic.

As he raised his head, he saw Mittelt reeling back her arm as she prepared to throw her spear again, and because of her earlier move, Neo's was off-balance as he was crouched on the ground leaving him in no position to guard.

"Hrmmm!" Mittelt, with all her strength, threw the spear of light aiming to skewer her target through his back. She knew that she was nowhere near as strong when it came to throwing spears compared to her other Fallen Angel comrades, but by making use of her best trait, her small and nimble body, she made a maneuver she was sure would snag her the win.

"Don't fuck with me! Haaaah!"

***CRACK! SHATTER!***

Neo proved too stubborn to let such a maneuver do him in as even in his disadvantageous position; Neo reared back his leg before slamming his foot into the tip of the spear, ignoring his sense of pain as he felt the blade stabbed into his foot. Soon cracks formed in the spear's blade before it shattered and turned into partials and faded away.

"I-impossible!" Mittelt stared in disbelief as she couldn't believe a Devil had just kicked a spear of lights to deflect it and not had their foot split in two! This shock left her stunned even as she fell back to the ground, which gave Neo a window of escape.

'Now gotta push through the pain!' Neo screams internally as he forces himself to his feet. In particular, his right one suffered a deep cut, and although it had not penetrated all the way through, the pain and light poisoning of the energy made it difficult to stand. "Push!" He shouted as he forced himself into a run at full speed.

"D-dammit no, you don't!" Mittelt, who had recovered from her shock, was now behind a sprinting Neo said as she landed on the ground. Attempting to stop him, she gathered light in her right hand, not having the time to make a spear she made a dagger of light instead and chucked in at the sprinting Devil.

"Nice try!"

***CHINK!***

Neo noticed the oncoming projectile and swiped his gauntlet hand at it breaking the dagger as he rounded a corner.

'Dammit I have to chase him!' Mittelt cursed in her mind as she began running. She couldn't extend her wings in these narrow halls, and rounding these turns at full speed was impossible for her causing her to have to pursue on foot.

* * *

_(Meanwhile with Alex)_

**[Dragon booster!]**

Along with that announcement, a mysterious golden mark appears on his gauntlet as Alex feels his body flood with his Sacred Gears power briefly being coated by a red aura.

Raynare seeing the display scoffs at Alex's efforts as she summons a spear of light. "I will explain it so even a fool like you can understand. It's a simple power difference. I have a power of 1000. You have a power of 1. You can't shorten the gap between us, no matter what. Even with the ability of that Sacred Gear, the power doubled is only 2. It's futile! How can you win agai-"

***FWOOSH!***

Before Raynare could continue mocking him, Alex disappeared from her sights before reappearing in front of her, rearing back his clawed gauntlet. "You talk too damn much."

***FWIP! SLLICKK!***

"Gaaaaah!" Raynare screamed out in pain as Alex cut into her cheek with his claws causing Raynare to retreat into the air gripping her wound.

"Y-you fucker! How dare you strike me!" Raynare shouted as she already began healing her injury with her Sacred Gear, confident she was safe in the air.

'Tch. She reacted to it. I thought I could stab her in the head, but at least know I'm faster than her on the ground.' Alex clicked his tongue as he thought about his fight lacking any fear or doubt that he had in his previous fight as his eyes now swirled with rage.

After healing her cheek, Raynare's rage hit its peak as her killing intent surrounded the destroyed sanctuary. "You fucking shit stain! Now you've really pissed me off!" She roared as light began condensing in her hand before she formed a spear which Alex could tell was far more powerful than the ones she was throwing at the park as it hummed loudly with power.

Seeing that Raynare was reading to throw the spear, Alex prepared to dodge the attack confident in his newfound speed.

"I put a lot of power in it! Eat this!" Raynare roars as she launches the spear that travels through the air at bullet-like speed.

***ZUDON!***

Despite that, Alex was faster as he used his leg strength to leap back, dodging the spear; however, something unexpected happened.

"Ha! You damn fool you're too easy to read!" Raynare, who in a split second had thrown the spear and moved to intercept Alex's escape route, taunted. Raynare then formed an average light spear ready to cleave Alex in two while he couldn't use his speed mid-air.

***SLLIIICCKKK!***

"Guaaaaaaaaaah!" Alex cried out in pain, coughing out blood as Raynare thrust her blade; he managed to rotate mid-air to avoid a lethal blow; however, the light spear still cut into his right side and shattered his ribs but luckily avoided his lung.

***THUMP!***

Alex's body falls to the ground as he grips his bleeding wound and suffers as light poison circulates through his body.

"Hahahaha! Pathetic lowly, Devil! All you have are good reflexes and a little speed; you could never defeat a superior being like myself! And speaking of speed…" Raynare who hovered in the air pointed her spear at the downed Alex and then-

***ZUDON!***

"Guaaaaaaaaaah!" Alex screamed in pain once again as Raynare chucked her spear into his left thigh.

"And now you don't even have the latter! Ahahahaha!" Raynare laughed insanely as she watched Alex writhe and twitch in pain as if she were torturing an insect.

Alex immediately tries to take out the spear hoping to relive the increasing burning sensation in his leg only to realize his mistake-

***SIZZLE!***

"Grooooooaaaahhh!" Alex roars as he feels the flesh on his hand burn. Forcing himself to look through his tear covered eyes, he sees smoke rising from his hand, side, and thigh as the light burns him violently.

"Ahahahaha! A Devil trying to pull that spear out is foolish! To Devils, light is a powerful poison. Just touching it will make you burn. That is the ultimate pain that Devils can taste! For a Low-class Devil like you, it's—" Raynare began taunting Alex before he suddenly shouts out…

"Nugaaaaaaaah! Shut! ...The fuck!...UP!" Alex grits his teeth as he grips the spear tightly, trying to pull the weapon out once more.

'Shit the light from my side...it feels like it's burning my lungs it's so hard to breathe, and every breath burns my chest! I wanna pass out! I wanna just stop! It hurts! It hurts so bad! But.. …' Alex's inner thoughts trail off before an image of Asia reignites his hatred and passion.

"**BUT THIS AIN'T SHIT COMPARED TO WHAT YOU FUCKERS PUT HER THROUGH!" **Alex bellows as he stops focusing on the pain and begins pulling out the spear with all he might and will.

***ZURYUUZURYUU!***

The spear makes a horrible sound as its sharp and jagged shape rips and tears against Alex's flesh. You could tell the weapon fit the user as it was designed to inflict as much pain as possible.

"Gruuggaaahhhhhhhaa!" Alex makes an inhuman sound as he finally pulls the spear out from his leg, dropping it to the ground as it disintegrates.

***SPLOSH!***

Now having nothing to stop the flow, blood now oozes from both Alex's thigh and side as a puddle of blood forms underneath him. 'N…...not….yet!'

"Grrraaagh!" Alex starts forcing himself up, but his left leg buckles, and he spews more blood from his mouth. Even then, he doesn't stop as he attempts and fails to stand once again.

**[Boost!]**

Alex's Sacred Gear announces even with his body's horrible condition as he barely could feel the increase in power. In fact, with his damaged state, the Sacred Gear sapping his stamina with each announcement started to hurt him as he felt a pain in his chest, yet he still refused to recall it.

Raynare examined Alex's condition with a questioning glare before starting up another of her long rants. "…Quite remarkable. A Low-class Devil pulling out the spear of light made by a Fallen Angel. But it's futile. My light isn't flashy but has a high killing ability against Devils. The density of the light is strong. So strong in fact that it's used in the blades of light the priests use. Getting hurt even once will be hard to heal, even for a Middle-class Devil. For a Low-class Devil like you, this is the limit. Fufufu, you can't look down on the damage caused by the power of light, you know? Especially my light." She says with a chuckle, but Alex was still in too much pain to listen as he tried and failed to stand once more grunting and panting exhaustively.

"The light circulates around your system and causes damage to your whole body. If you are late at healing it, you will die. No, normally it wouldn't be weird to die with that damage. Despite your slim build, I guess you're pretty stubborn, aren't you?"

"K-kehehehehe…" Alex chuckles at Raynare's assessment causing the Fallen Angel to raise a brow in confusion, thinking he may have gone mad.

"What's funny?" She questioned.

"T-tough. Do you think any of this is tough? Even now...my muscles and bones feel like lava is burning them from the inside out. I could honestly keel over any minute now…" Alex said as his body was racked with pain as he came to terms with his dire situation.

"...Even so... I don't give a damn?" Alex questioned no one in particular as he tried for what felt like the tenth time to get back on his feet.

"I'm such a fucking loser... all my life that's...what I've always been. I really thought that after I became a Devil, I would be able to be... like him, but..." As Alex said this, an image of Neo with his back turned to him in the distance popped into his mind before vanishing to darkness.

"But I'm still just a fuck up! I couldn't even properly help one damn girl who just wanted a friend!" Alex slowly moves his legs and manages to lift himself off the ground, still shaking from the pain and blood loss.

"But I swear... even if I have to kill myself to do so...even if I couldn't help her and even if I could make myself strong like Neo..." Alex supports himself on three of his limbs as he manages to get off the ground and slowly rises to his feet.

"—! I-Impossible! Your body isn't in a condition to move! Because of the damage of light—" Rayanre shouts, shocked that the boy could get back to his feet and was shut up after looking at Alex's vicious expression.

Even though his body was racked with intense pain, Alex's eyes retained their intense hatred as he looked at Raynare with a malicious expression of wrath and his blood-covered face and his disheveled hair, making him look more like a beast than a man or Devil.

"I swear even if you kill me here...I'll make sure of it you never hurt anyone ever again, you hear me you fucking bitch!" Alex curses as he raises his armored fist-clenching it so tightly he draws blood as he bares his teeth.

"…There's no way you can stand! A Low-class Devil shouldn't be able to stand up with those wounds! The lights are burning your insides from within your body!? A Low-class Devil who doesn't have the demonic-power to ease the effect of light shouldn't be able to endure it!" Raynare shouted as she flew back a few inches, genuinely confused and terrified by the man's animalistic visage before her; however, Alex was no longer listening to her.

'I've only got enough energy to make a few more attacks after that I'll probably...' Before Alex's negative thoughts could rise to the surface, he shook his head as he knew he had to regain his focus. 'If I'm gonna beat her, I'll have to close the gap with as much speed as possible. This environment should be good if I push myself, but to win, I need more.' Alex thought as he assessed the surrounding area before looking to his gauntlet.

"Yo, Sacred Gear... I don't know if you will listen to me, but you're supposed to be some special power that makes people great, right? Well, why don't you give me everything you got so I can at least kill this bitch alright?" Alex honestly didn't know if he should have expected something to happen and was frankly just desperate, but his plea was luckily answered when suddenly his Sacred Gear strongly announces-

**[Explosion!]**

* * *

_(Meanwhile with Neo)_

"Shit...she really got me good with that last one!" Neo cursed as he leaned against a wall for support with his injured foot. After gaining some distance, Neo tore off a piece of his shirt to tie the wound and stop the bleeding, but the light poisoning coursing through his foot still made walking and running a challenge.

'Phew. Ok, he should be somewhere around here if he took my bait now what's my condition.' Neo thought to himself as he put his back to the wall and assessed his body's damage.

'I've only got one more boost left before I reach my limit. The wound on my shoulder stings because of the light, but I can shake it off easily. The real problem is my foot. It'll be hard to keep my balance and properly dodge, so I should keep off it and only lean on it if I have to.' After looking over his body, Neo hugged the wall as he sharpened his senses as he peeked around the corner to see if he could spot someone.

"You have the gall to call me out, and you chose to hide? What I should have expected from a Low-Class with no etiquette." Spotting Neo first, the rough voice of an older man called out.

Neo immediately recognizes the voice, stops hugging the wall, and walks out, turning into a far more open corridor. He ignores the pain in his foot as he stands normally, refusing to show weakness in front of his enemy.

"Tch. Funny you talk about etiquette when you're the coward, you used a sneak attack at the park. Anyone would respond that way after the shit you pulled you Fedora-wearing bastard." Neo clicks his tongue as he berates the man revealed to be Dohnaseek for his actions in the park.

"Whatever." Dohanseek said with a sigh as he had chosen to forget his embarrassment of the incident earlier today as he pulled something out of his coat pocket. It was a large shard of a broken bottle that reeked of chemicals and alcohol and, in his other hand, was a patch of dark red hair.

"These were your callout cards correct? I must say you're either very brave or very stupid for wanting this." Dohanseek said in a condescending tone as Neo shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Whatever. We both don't want the unfinished business between us to go unresolved. That's why you responded, right?" Neo questioned. He was right; after all, Dohanseek was supposed to be on patrol, leaving that position for what could have been an attempt to distract him. It was a significant error threatening his partner he left behind and this whole operation.

"Well, you'd be correct there. But before we start, I have one question: Devil. How did you know that setting that fire and leaving behind a strand of your hair to make me recognize you would lead us both to this corridor?" Dohanseek asked, not being able to figure that part out.

"Hm? After I had a friend figure out your numbers, I knew where you were holding your little ritual in that underground sanctuary. Since that's the case, in the event you had to evacuate, one of the best paths to do so was through that cellar door in the back of the church. This large hallway is a straight shot to that place and is pretty close to the sanctuary, so if I alerted you I was there I banked on you taking that way and meeting you here like so, but...it was a pretty big gamble on if you'd follow through with my plan or not." Neo explained as Dohanseek looked at him with an examining glance and noticed his injuries.

"...Very well…"

***VROOM!***

Dohnaseek wastes no time as he creates his blue light spear and goes into a somewhat experienced battle stance.

"I won't ask about your injuries, Devil. I also don't plan on letting you complain about them being the cause of your defeat. I refuse to remain disgraced by one who dared to utter those accursed words to me ever again! No matter what it takes, I will end you!" Dohnaseek proclaims as his wings sprout from his back as he prepares himself to blitz into Neo with his spear.

"Funny, I feel the same way." Neo responds as he recalls Dohnaseek taking a similar dashing stance when they first met. In response, he goes into a more evasive stance, keeping himself on his toes as he waits for Dohanseek to make the obvious first attack.

***FLAP! SWOOF!***

Engaging first as expected, Dohnaseek kicked off the ground before extending his wings fully and flapping forward to barrel him at high speed as he held his spear forward to impale him with his charge.

Neo pivoted on his left foot as he jumped to the left, avoiding the charge. Dohanseek quickly reacted as he reeled his leg back in the air and swung it, aiming for Neo's head.

***THUD!***

Neo raises his arm, blocking Dohnaseek's kick but is forced back a few inches from the force.

Wasting no time, Neo kicks off the ground with his bad foot grunting in pain as he aims a fist for Dohnaseek's stomach.

"Nice try, but it's too slow!"

***KRINK!***

Before the blow connects, Dohnaseek raises his spear as Neo's fist makes contact with the blade's flat side, supporting it with his other hand pressed against the opposite side as he pushes Neo back again.

"Ngh!" Neo grunts as he is forced to step using his bad foot as the light's burning sensation gets worse each time he puts pressure on it.

"What's the matter, Devil?! Your strike doesn't have as much 'Oomph!' as before that injury is slowing you down trash!" Dohanseek taunts as he goes back on the offensive, unleashing a flurry of strikes using his spear's range advantage unlike he did before in the park.

"Wouldn't you like that damn vulture!" Neo responds as he fights through his burning pain and dodges the attacks.

'Hmph, even on a bad foot, he's still dodging well. Then how about THIS!' As Dohnaseek thinks this, he plants his feet back on the ground with his back facing Neo in a crouched position.

'What is he-"

"Hrragh!" Dohnaseek shouts as he quickly twirls around with his wings as the feathered end comes barreling towards Neo, who was confused if this was an attack or distraction.

***BAM!***

"The fu- Guoagh!" Neo gasps as the wing slams into his stomach, but instead of the soft texture of feathers that he expected the wing felt more like a slab of stone was slammed into his stomach as he flew back a few feet.

'Hmph shows that?' Dohnaseek exhaled confidently at his attack. It was an advanced Fallen Angel technique that involved pouring Mana into one's wings to increase their sharpness and durability. Dohnaseek was never magically talented, however, so he could only increase the strength and sturdiness of his feathers to the level of stone, but he was sure the force of that attack did something.

"Haah, man, well, that was a thing." Neo said as he stood up, patting off his stomach, seemingly taking no damage.

"E-eh?!" Dohanseek looked confused that Neo seemingly received no damage, which Neo caught on to and flashed a smirk.

"What, you thought that weak sauce shit was gonna hurt me? You gotta do way better than that if you wanna get a reaction out of me vulture." Neo taunted, trying to see if he could probe a response from Dohnaseek like before, but it seems like Dohnaseek wasn't falling for it as he instead raised his spear and prepared to charge forward again.

"If that won't work, I'll just have to go with this! Hrragh!" Dohanseek shouts as he flies forward.

"That again?! Then how about this!" As Neo shouts, he uses the wide hallway pushing off the ground with his left foot he lands onto the surface of the wall and kicks off once more with his foot outstretched barreling towards Dohnaseek from above.

"W-wha-!"

***THUUD! CRASH!***

"Gough!" Dohnaseek cries out in pain as Neo's kick plants itself against his face, causing him to fly back into the ball and blood to spill from his mouth.

As he came down, Neo landed on his right foot as the pain overpowered him and caused his leg to give out as he was forced to his knee. "Auugh! Fuck!" he cursed as he gripped his leg, feeling that the light poisoning had spread to his calf, making it even more challenging to fight.

'S-shit, that was hard!' Dohnaseek cursed as he gripped his head where Neo kicked him and noticed there was blood dripping down his face from the blow.

It took a few seconds for his rattled head to resettle as he came back to his senses and noticed that Neo was crouched and gripping his leg and decided to take advantage of it.

***FLAP! ZUDON!***

"Time to end this! Khiiagh!" Dohnaseek roars alerting Neo to his attack as he flaps his wings taking flight and summons a spear and chucks it at the red-haired teen.

'Ghi- shit gotta move!' Seeing the oncoming spear, Neo forces himself to push off the ground as he barely manages to fly above the spear and avoid taking damage.

"W-what? Impossible!" Dohnaseek screams out, not able to believe that Neo dodged his spear in that way with an injured leg as the teen was still coming at him.

However, instead of slamming into him Neo flips and passes over Dohnaseek's body leaving the Fallen confused until-

***TUG!***

"G-GAAIH! What the fuck!" Dohnsaseek screams as he felt someone grip his wings looking back he saw Neo facing the opposite direction with a tight grip on Dohnaseek black wings.

"Let go! Get off me, you bastard!" Dohnaseek cursed as he tried flapping his wings vigorously to shake the red-haired teen off and gain altitude, but both failed as Neo wouldn't let Dohanseek spread his wings fully and his added weight began pulling them both down.

"You want down?!" Neo shouted as he began swinging his legs as his lower body was rising higher with each swing.

***SHOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!***

After his third swing Neo managed to nearly flip over Dohnaseek finally building up enough force to do-

"Then go down!"

***SWOOSH! SLAM!***

With all the strength in his upper body, Neo swung Dohnaseek over his shoulder by his wings and slammed the Fallen Angel into the ground causing cracks to form from the impact.

"G-guoah!" Dohnaseek gasped in pain from the impact as the blow momentarily paralyzes him.

'Shit, I can't move!' As Dohnaseek fails to gain feeling in his body, he peeks through his eyes and sees Neo still falling to the ground about to slam his good foot on top of Dohnaseek's head.

'Shit gotta move! Move! Move!' Dohnaseek curses as he feels threatened by the attack and tries with all his might to roll out of the way before letting out a roar. "I said, move!"

***BAAAM! CRRICK!***

Dohnaseek wills his body to move at the last second as he manages to roll out of the way, avoiding the attack.

Neo smashes his foot into the ground, forming a small crater as shards of stone flew everywhere.

"Haugh...haugh…" Dohnaseek panted as he lifted himself from his back, ignoring the heaviness he felt in his body as he forced himself to stand.

'Dammit, I didn't think this fight would be so difficult.' Dohnaseek thought as he was forced to admit that he was struggling.

It was even more infuriating for him to see that he had dealt him no damage. Fortunately enough, it seemed the injuries from a previous battle were slowing him down as Dohnaseek observed that Neo struggled to stand up.

'He must have been struck by a weapon of light. It's insane that he can even fight me on that leg. However…'

Dohnaseek summoned his light spear but made no stance or preparations to attack.

'However, if I use 'that', I may be able to win. His defense and offensive abilities have dropped due to his injury. I honestly didn't want to resort to 'that', but if it's between being defeated by some Low-Class or using it, I'd gladly pick the ladder.'

With his mind made up, Dohnaseek finally got into his battle stance.

'Shit… I literally can't feel anything in my leg anymore, and he's still not down! If it's come to this, then I've gotta do it.' Neo also resolves himself as he raises his right hand.

"Sacred Gear! Activate!" Neo summons and activates his Sacred Gear all in one go this time feeling like his power had actually doubled.

"G-rrrrngh!" Neo shouts as he forces himself to stand using his newfound energy from his Sacred Gear as Dohnaseek charges forth to cut him down.

"And now, take this!" Dohnaseek shouts as he readies his spear.

'I don't have the strength to dodge him anymore instead; I need to block him like I did in the park and hit him with everything I've got once I create an opening!' Neo thinks to himself as he raises his armored hand to deflect the Fallen Angel's attack.

However, nothing Neo could have done could have prepared him for what was next as Dohnaseek yelled-

"Shining Spear!"

***SHINE!***

Upon shouting that out, Dohnaseeks spear began glowing brighter before bursting forth with a bright eruption of light even brighter than the flash bomb Freed used earlier.

"G-gah!" Neo shouted as he was forced to shut his eyes from the intensely bright light, which unfortunately left himself open.

"Raaaaaaaahhh!" Dohnaseek, who also had his eyes closed, roared as he swung his spear with both hands with all his might.

***SLICK!***

As Dohnaseek swings, his spear he feels it connect as the familiar sensation of his spear cutting into flesh responds through his blade.

'Got him.' Dohnaseek thinks to himself as he forms a malicious grin after finally cutting down the Devil he so loathed.

"S-shit...Alex, I fucked up…" Neo felt the cold sensation of a blade slash across his stomach, stunning him for a few seconds before the hot feeling of intense pain that quickly followed the slash and the burning sensation of light shot through his body and nerves.

* * *

_(Meanwhile with Alex)_

**[Explosion!]**

Alex's gauntlet calls out a new announcement and releases a bright light from its green jewel.

As the light enveloped Alex's body, he felt himself overflowing with power.

'T-this is awesome! It's so much energy!' Alex thought as he felt the power of his Sacred Gear coarse through his damaged body, feeling like he could fight.

However, as Alex takes a step forward, blood continues pouring from his wounds, and he covers his mouth as he pukes up more blood. No matter how strong he felt, he knew it wouldn't last forever and that his body was already in critical condition no...maybe even beyond that at this point.

When he fought her in the park, even though he managed to stall for a good while, he couldn't help but feel a difference in power between them. But now, even in his horrible shape, his Devil instincts that had grasped hold over this overwhelming power were telling...no ordering him to defeat her.

And so Alex put his other leg forward and crouched down low as if he were a runner getting into a starting position seemingly aiming at Raynare, who was having a breakdown.

"…Impossible. What is this? Why is something like this happening…? Isn't that Sacred Gear supposed to be the **[Twice Critical]**, which doubles the possessor's power? …It can't be. It's not possible. Why has your power surpassed mine…? This wave of demonic-power I'm feeling... is that of a Middle-class…no, that of a High-class Devil…" Raynare stated.

'A High-Class Devil? Wait so because of my Sacred Gear I'm as strong as Rias?' Alex thinks to himself as he continues his preparations, flexing his calves with the benefits of his **[Knight]** piece making them even stronger.

"Lies! This is all lies! I am the Fallen Angel that has attained the ultimate healing power! I became a superior being by obtaining **[Twilight Healing]**! I received the right to be loved by Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama! I refuse to lose to some low-life like you!" Raynare shouts as she stretches out both her hands with her wings flapping wildly behind her to gain distance as she gathers her power of light in both hands and forms two spears which she throws at Alex

***ZVROOOOOOOM!***

The spears fly at a speed faster than any of her previous ones but just when she thinks they're going to hit Alex-

***SWOOF!***

Suddenly Alex disappeared from sight as he shot himself past Raynare at a bullet-like speed blowing past her as a large gust of wind. She turned around to try and locate him but once again-

***SWOOF! SWOOF!***

Alex bounced off the old church's wall and blitz past her before bouncing off one of the sanctuary pillars as each time he leaped from one surface to another, he was accumulating even more speed and force.

***SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF!***

And again.

***SWOOF SWOOF! SWOOF SWOOF!**

And again.

***SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF!***

And again.

***SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF!***

And again!

***SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF!***

And again!

***SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF! SWOOF!***

At this point, Raynare wasn't even able to tell where Alex was as he had reached far beyond the point of her ability to keep up with him as he was bouncing off the floor, walls, pillars, and ceiling only able to fearfully look around with no hope of catching him.

'Even if I wasn't as injured as I am, I doubt I could have beaten her with my strength. But by using all my abilities to build up my momentum like this…' As Alex had these thoughts run through his mind

Alex thought to himself as he lept one final time, aiming for the ceiling just above Raynare's head.

***SWOOF! CRASH!***

Alex's feet crater into the ceiling with incredible force as he compresses his leg muscles even further than he did when he started as his calves flexed with power.

***ZOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

'...I CAN CRUSH HER IN ONE BLOW!' Alex finished his thought and pushed off the ceiling with all his might barreling down to Raynare at incredible velocity as he reeled back his armored fist to land the final blow.

"RAYNAREEEEEE!" Alex shouts the Fallen Angel's name, causing her to look up and become horrified at the Devil barreling towards her.

"N-nooo!" She screams, trying to fly away, but it was already too late.

"DIE YOU BITCHHHHHH!" Alex screamed out as he shot his fist forward, now with a clear shot at Raynare's face.

***WHAAAAM!***

"Grrrroauugghhhhhh!" Raynare let out an inhumane cry as Alex's armored fist slammed right into the middle of her face as Alex's Sacred Gear concentrated all his built up power into the blow.

"Uoryaaaaaaaa!" Alex let out a roar as he drove his fist even further into her face.

***GASHAAAAAAAAN!***

Raynare's body couldn't stand up against the force of the punch any longer as she is sent flipping backward and crashes through the wall at the sanctuary entrance and seemingly smacked against the dirt ground outside before stopping.

***CRASH!***

"G-gah!" Eventually, gravity takes control, and Alex crashes to the ground on his back with a gasp of pain as he was no longer able to move his body, and the power boost from his Sacred Gear was all gone.

As the dust settles, silence rolls back into the destroyed sanctuary. Alex couldn't say if Raynare was dead or not, but he knew for certain she wouldn't get back up from that blow for a while.

"G-gotcha...you bitch…" Alex said weakly with a small smile feeling relieved he was able to avenge Asia. Although he was saddened by the fact that Asia was gone, he didn't even have the strength left to cry and simply closed his eyes, prepared to meet death once again.

***Ton.***

Suddenly, however, he feels someone support him, raising him slightly off his back. Opening his eyes slowly, he sees the person was Kiba.

"Good work Volt-kun. You actually beat a Fallen Angel." Kiba said with a smile.

"K-Kiba-san…?" Alex said in disbelief that Kiba was actually here.

"Forgive me, Volt-kun." Kiba said with a slightly pained expression from seeing Alex's damaged state but changed back to his casual smile. "Buchou told me not to interfere."

'Buchou?' Alex thought to himself, confused why Rias would give him such an order or even send him here and put him on standby in the first place.

"That's right. I believed that you were able to beat the Fallen Angel Raynare." A new but familiar voice suddenly entered the sanctuary.

Alex struggled to turn his head as he saw Rias walking towards him with a smile while waving her crimson hair.

Behind her was Akeno, who quickly made her way over to Alex before crouching down and began assessing his condition.

"Ara ara, this is rather serious. Yuuto-kun, please turn him on his side so I can see his injury." Akeno gives her command, which Kiba obediently obeys, and he gently turns Alex over.

Akeno then extends her hands, and from them comes a soothing yellow light that washed over his injury and, while not as quick as Asia, began healing him.

Gaining back his ability to breathe and speak as the burning sensation in his lungs was slowly fading, Alex raised a hand and grabbed Kiba's shirt sleeve.

"P-please. Help...Neo!" Alex begged with a low voice as his strength had not fully returned. He didn't exactly know if Neo was in any sort of danger, but he couldn't rest easy without knowing he was okay.

"Neo, huh. I assume he is still somewhere downstairs. Very well, Kiba, if you could go find and assist him." Rias commands.

"Very well, Buchou." Kiba responds confidently as he passes Alex to Akeno and stands up with his sword sheathed at his hip. "I'll try not to take to long"

***SWOOSH!***

He then sprints off with his **[Knight]** speed, which seemed far more polished and graceful that Alex's.

'Ok, Neo's right that dude is a total showoff.' Alex rolls his eyes but feels relieved that someone as reliable as Kiba was going as Neo's potential backup allowing him to focus back on Rias.

"U-um Buchou, where did you come from?" Alex asked.

"From a secret passage. It seems one of the Fallen Angels was very paranoid about invasions, so he had a tunnel dug out that connected to the sanctuary for escapes. We just finished our business, so we used a magic-circle to come here. It was my first time transporting to a Church, so I was nervous." Rias explained as she let out a sigh.

Alex realized that probably meant that she and the other wiped out all the Exorcists there, which left him relieved, but he still was confused about why she was here in the first place.

"But Buchou, why are you here? I thought you weren't going to get involved with what Neo and I were doing, and for that matter, how did you even know we were attacking the church or where that tunnel even was?" Alex berated Rias with an onslaught of questions.

Rias, however, didn't seem daunted as she answered them one at a time. "For starters, I'm here because no matter how much you two may try and act independently from me, I am your master and will never allow you to be strung out on your own. Secondly, The reason I knew you two raided the church was because of this." Rias held out her hand as a summoning circle appeared above it, popping out from the circle was a crimson-colored bat that flew onto Rias' shoulder.

"This is my familiar; I've had it monitoring you two since I left the apartment. It reported back to me that you both were raiding the church, so I gathered my peerage and decided to come over as back up. And as for why I knew the location of the escape tunnel…" Rias looked to the destroyed entrance as light two sets of footsteps trotted in.

Walking into the sanctuary was Koneko holding onto a shining yellow rope, which Alex could only guess was made from magic. He was more surprised that the person whose hands were tied by that rope was a tall, beautiful blue-haired woman in a revealing maroon trench coat and matching mini-skirt.

"This is Kalwarner. She's a Fallen Angel who seemed to be on patrol alone that we managed to take prisoner. After a little convincing, she was more than willing to assist us, isn't that right?" Rias said in a tone that sounded rather dangerous as the woman known as Kalwarner shrinks in fear.

"Y-y-yes, of course!" She said in a quick terrified tone as she knew she could be killed at any moment.

Turning her head to look outside, Koneko walks out of the sanctuary and leaves Kalwarner with the others.

'Dammit! What the hell is that retard Dohnaseek doing!? This wouldn't have happened if that fucking moron didn't fly off talking about some fire and never show back up! Or better yet if he didn't throw a hissy fit and put Mittelt of the fucking patrol team!' Kalwarner cursed Dohnaseek's name in her mind blaming her current situation on the man's pride and incompetence.

"But anyway, Alex, it looks like you managed to win. Though I can't say, you did so safely." Rias said as she stood in front of Alex with a somewhat stressed out expression.

"Hehe...I'm really sorry about that." Alex gives an awkward laugh feeling bad, knowing he worried her so much.

Rias sighs as she shakes away her worry flashing Alex her usual mature smile. "Fufufu, it's fine. I'm happy you won. Just what I expected from my servant." Rias taps Alex on his nose, causing him to blush.

"Ara ara. The Church is in a mess. Buchou, is it alright?" Akeno looked up from her healing treatment with Alex and asked Rias with a troubled expression.

"Wait…...why would it not be alright?" Alex asked Rias timidly.

"Churches belong to God or religions related to him, but there are cases like this where Fallen Angels use it. In cases like this, if we Devil's damage the Church, there will be times when we get targeted by assassins. For revenge and payback." Rias explains as Alex's face grows pale.

"Wait! WHAT! *Cough!* *Cough!* *Cough!*" Alex shouts, causing him to go into a coughing fit as Akeno settles him back down.

"But it won't happen this time. This Church was originally an abandoned one. A group of Fallen Angels and their followers came here to use it for their own greed, and we just happened to fight here. So we didn't step foot on the enemies' actual territory to have war. So it's just a small fight between a group of Devils and a Fallen Angels. This happens all the time." Rias sums up the story in a way that convincingly works out for them.

"Buchou. I've brought it." Koneko reappears, dragging an unconscious Raynare by her wing before dropping her at the group's feet.

Alex could see the damage he caused, and needless to say, it wasn't a pretty sight. The force of his punch had broken Raynare's nose leaving it swollen and bloody and blackened both her eyes.

"Thank you, Koneko. Now then, let's wake her up. Akeno." Rias looked to her **[Queen] **as Akeno gently put Alex down and stood up, having healed his life-threatening injuries and lessened the light poisoning in his system.

"Yes." She complies, lifting her hand as a small magic circle appears above her head.

***SPLASH!***

From it comes a stream of ice-cold water that splashes onto Raynare's face and awakens the unconscious Fallen Angel.

"*Cough!* *Cough!* *Cough!*" Raynare coughs as she slowly opens her eyes, wincing in pain from the damage to her face.

"How are you doing, Fallen Angel Raynare." Rias asked, looking down at her.

"…The daughter of the Gremory clan…" Raynare said, looking up at Rias.

"Hello, my name is Rias Gremory. I'm the next heir of the House of Gremory. It will be for a short while, but nice to have your acquaintance." Rias greets her with a smile causing Raynare to give her a hateful glare even through her swollen eyes.

"…You think you've got me, but too bad. This plan was kept secret from the higher-ups, but there are other Fallen Angels with me. If I get in danger, they will—" Raynare stops speaking as she looks over and sees Kalwarner with her hands bound by magic. But even more unsettling was the fact that she looked unharmed, meaning she gave up without putting up a fight.

"K-Kalwarner? What the fuck?! You just gave yourself up to them? And where the hell is Dohnaseek and Mittelt?" Raynare asked questions frantically as Kalwarner bit her lip, too scared to answer.

"The reason this Fallen Angel is with us is that she surrendered when Akeno and I approached her and was willing to exchange information for her life. According to her, your comrades Dohnaseek and Mittelt had a falling out recently. While she and Dohnaseek were patrolling the perimeter, he seemed to fly back to the church, so capturing her all by herself was quite simple. Though it's not like it would have been much trouble just to destroy her anyways." Rias explained the events leading Kalwarner to be captured but added something rather terrifying at the end as Raynare was grinding her teeth in frustration at the whole situation.

"C-crap, I guess Rias, or I mean Buchou isn't to be fucked with." Alex said, being able to support himself off his back thanks to Akeno's efforts.

"Of course, getting hit by even one of her attacks won't even leave a trace. The princess of the Duke who has the Power of Destruction. Buchou is a powerful Devil who is called a genius among the group of young Devils after all." Akeno says to Alex, who becomes somewhat amazed that such a person is his master.

Seeing his amazed face, Akeno added something else to prompt a reaction from her cute junior. "She is also called the "Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess", you know?"

'W-wait Ruin Princess! That's so badass I want a cool nickname!' Alex was unaware that Rias was casting an analytical gaze on Alex's gauntlet.

"…Red Dragon. Until recently, there wasn't a mark like this… I see so that's what it is…" Rias said, drawing Alex's attention as he noticed she had a somewhat shocked expression.

"I found out the main reason why Alex was able to beat a Fallen Angel." Rias said quietly before looking to Raynare.

"Fallen Angel Raynare. This boy, Alexander Volt's Sacred Gear, isn't a regular Sacred Gear. That's why you lost." Rias said, causing Raynare to give a puzzled expression.

"—**[Boosted Gear]**, otherwise known as the **[Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet]**. A Sacred Gear that is said to be the rarest of the rare. The Red Dragon mark on the gauntlet is the evidence. Even you have heard of that name before, right?" Rias stated as she pointed to Alex's Sacred Gear.

Hearing that statement, Raynare and her fellow Fallen Angel Kalwarner become extremely shocked by that statement. "B-Boosted Gear… One of the **[Longinus]**, also called the **[Tools that Destroy God]** … Even though it's only for a short time, it's said that it has the power to surpass Maous and God… Are you telling me that hateful power is possessed in a boy like this!?"

"If it's just like the legend is told, then the ability of the **[Boosted Gear]** can double the possessor's power every 10 seconds. Even if his power starts from 1, it doubles his power every 10 seconds, and it can reach the power of the leader-class Fallen Angels and High-class Devils. And by mastering it, he could even kill God." Rias explained, making even Alex become taken aback.

'H-HOLY FUCK I HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO KILL GOD?!' Alex mentally shouted, needing a moment before returning to rational thought.

Looking at his gauntlet closer, he saw the mark of a Red Dragon carved into it, as Rias said. 'Well, I guess this explains why my power kept doubling with those "Boost" announcements even though Raynare said it should only double once.' Alex thought which sorted out the questions he previously had about his Sacred Gear.

'B-but still…' Alex looked to the powerful Sacred Gear on his right arm with a tinge of fear. 'The power to kill God. Isn't that kinda...no it's totally a cheat power. Wait, with this thing, couldn't I become super badass! They did say I could surpass the Maou too, so maybe I could become like the supreme Overlord of Hell or something!' Alex let his thoughts run wild as he grew a cocky grin.

"Well, no matter how powerful it is, a Sacred Gear, which needs time, has a big risk. There aren't any enemies that would wait for the user to get stronger. Since the opponent was taking it lightly, this was the outcome." Rias explained the Sacred Gears' weakness and somewhat rained on Alex's parade.

'G-gah! I mean, I guess she's right but still why you gotta kill my fantasy Rias.' Alex sighed and hung his head as his power fantasy was halted.

***Pat. Pat.***

Alex feels someone patting his head looking up to see it was Rias. He usually hated it when people touched his hair, but for whatever reason, Rias' touch felt soothing.

"But it's interesting. Just to be expected from one of my servants. Just like I thought, you're quite an interesting boy, Alex. I'm going to adore you even more." Rias said with a smile, causing Alex to blush. Suddenly he remembered the talk he and Neo had with her and felt pain in his heart as he lowered his head again.

"B-Buchou I-I'm so sorry. Back at Neo's apartment, I told you off saying worthless crap like I would return my favor to Asia, and that we could handle things ourselves. But if you hadn't shown up, I would have died." Alex started apologizing as he felt truly foolish for the words he was saying back then.

As he started apologizing, however, he was reminded of Asia, of his failure. He didn't know when they began, but soon tears began rolling down his face as he had to let that settle in as he continued with his apology. "A-and to make things even worse…...even with Neo's help I-I couldn't even save her…... I couldn't save Asia." He admitted more to himself than anyone else.

"You don't have to cry. Seeing you right now, no one would blame you for your efforts." Rias said, trying to cheer the depressed Alex up as she continued patting his head.

"Still…... I failed…" Alex repeated.

Reaching out a hand, Rias wipes away the tears falling down Alex's face. "It's okay. You just weren't experienced as a Devil yet. That's all there is to it. Become strong. I'm going to make you work hard from now on, so be prepared. My **[Pawn]**, Alex."

"Y-yes." Alex replied, feeling a little better than he did before, thanks to Rias' encouragement as he tightens his fist.

'I'll work harder so that shit like this will never happen again.' Alex swore to himself.

"Now then, I'll finish my work here." Rias said as her eyes gained a sharp, ruthless look to them.

She then began walking closer to Raynare, who grew terrified at the crimson-haired girls every step.

"I will have you disappear, Fallen Angel-san. And of course, I will retrieve that Sacred Gear back as well." Rias said in a cold tone as Alex felt her killing intent rivaling Neo's in his fight with Freed.

"Y-You can't be serious!? This healing power is for Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama—"

"To live your life for love is beautiful. But you are too tainted with dirt. You have no elegance. And I don't allow that." Rias cuts Raynare off as she aims her hand towards Raynare prepared to kill the Fallen Angel in one blow.

"K-Kalwarner were friends, aren't we? You aren't just going to sit by and watch me die, right?! Right?!" Raynare pleaded with the captured Fallen Angel to save her.

"…...I'm sorry…" Was all Kalwarner said before turning her head unable to look at the fate about to befall her comrade.

"W-what? No. NO! You bitch, how dare you! I was going to help you ascend higher in the Grigor, and you could have received Azazel-sama and Shemhaza-sama's love along with me, your traitorous bitch!" Raynare roared in rage, infuriated that someone she intended on helping would turn their back on her just to save their own skin.

"Now, Fallen Angel Raynare, who was abandoned by her own comrade. How miserable." Rias spoke in a voice lacking all sympathy as Raynare shivered in terror.

Alex almost wanted to feel sorry for her; however, as he remembered all the horrible things she did to him and Asia, he couldn't muster an ounce.

Honestly, after everything he had been through, Alex just wished for this nightmare to come to a close.

***Shine.***

Attracting Alex's as well as Rias and the others attention was the familiar green light of Asia's Sacred Gear as Raynare cupped her face and was seemingly healing herself.

'Y-you bitch! Stop using her power and just di-' Alex upon seeing Rynare heal herself was about to force himself up as he felt rage burn in his chest. However, his emotions were thrown into disarray by what Raynare did next.

"Alex-kun! Please save me!" The Fallen Angel pleaded, not with the voice of her true evil self Raynare but of the disguise she wore known as Yumma Amano.

"These Devil's are trying to kill me! I love you! I love you so much! That's why we should defeat them together!" Raynare begged through her Yumma persona as tears rolled down her now healed and admittedly beautiful face.

Alex looked at the scene in pure shock, unable to fathom the depravity before him. The woman who manipulated him against the man he viewed like a brother, the women who killed the two of them without a shred of remorse, the woman who found the mention of her name come from his mouth disgusting, and most of all the woman who killed an innocent girl all solely for her selfish desire for affection. That woman was begging him to save her.

After hearing such a thing, only one thought was left in Alex's mind about the being before him.

"You are absolutely shit...no something even lower than that." Alex said with his eyes devoid of any feeling for the girl before him.

"Rias...no Buchou, please, this thing is too far gone to be allowed to live." Alex pleaded with his master. He looked away as both his emotions and any residual feelings he had for Raynare had completely vanished in that instance as the Fallen Angel's expression froze.

"…Don't try to flirt with my cute servant. Blow away."

***DON!***

The intense blast of demonic-power shot out from Rias' hand, Raynare didn't even have time to scream as she was obliterated without a trace once the blast made contact.

Floating around where Raynare had perished was a green light that Alex immediately recognized as Asia's Sacred Gear.

Rias extends her hand as she takes hold of the Sacred Gear. "Now, let's give this back to Asia Argento-san."

Alex gave Rias a confused stare, not understanding the point of such an action as Asia had already passed.

"Buchou i-it's ok. We should try and find Neo and Yuuto-san after that we can worry about Asia." Alex said as he thought it was best to focus on his best friend and fellow Devil rather than have the rest of the club members worry about Asia despite how painful it was to make that decision.

Reaching into her pocket Rias pulls something out and shows it to Alex. "Alex, what do you think this is?"

Alex noticed it was a chess piece as crimson as Rias' hair, although he had no idea which one it was. "...It's a chess piece, right?"

"Yes, but to be more precise, this is a **[Bishop]** Evil Piece." Rias states as Alex was taken aback by what he just heard.

"An Evil Piece? You mean like the ones that Devil servants get their traits from?" Alex asked, remembering Rias' explanation of them in their Stray Devil hunt.

"Indeed, but what I failed to mention is that these Pieces are also what we use to turn and revive other races as Devils." Rias explained as Alex locked on to one of the words she said.

'Revive! Wait a second, I remembered dying to Raynare on my date, and according to Neo's story, I was dead for a couple of minutes. Does that mean she can revive even the dead as Devils as long as their death was recent?' Alex's eyes widened like saucers at this realization as Rias began walking to Asia, who lay lifeless on the pew.

"A Devil with a Peerage receives 15 chess pieces in total, made up of 8 **[Pawns]**, 2 **[Knights]**, 2 **[Bishops]**, 2 **[Rooks]**, and 1 **[Queen]**. Same as in an actual chess game. I already used one of my **[Bishop]**, but I still have another one left." Rias explained as she placed the crimson **[Bishop]** chess piece on the deceased Asia's chest.

"The **[Bishop]**'s role is to support the other members of the group. I'm not a fan of reincarnating the dead, but this girl's healing power could be useful as a **[Bishop]**. Therefore, as I did with you, I will make an exception and reincarnate this girl as a Devil." Rias says as a crimson demonic-power surrounds her body.

"I order, in my name Rias Gremory. You, Asia Argento. I, resurrect you back to this soil as my servant and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my **[Bishop]**, be delighted with your new life!" Rias chants as her demonic-power flown into the chess piece, making it give off a bright light.

The crimson chess piece then begins going inside Asia's body with her stolen Sacred Gear returning to her as well.

Rias stops her flow of demonic-power after she confirms that the chess piece and the Sacred Gear went inside Asia's body, letting out a sigh when everything was finished.

After a short while, Asia opened her eyes as Alex looked at her with a mix of happiness and shock.

"Huh?" Asia said, confused as she realized she was not dead.

Hearing her voice again, Alex couldn't help but start crying. 'S-she's alive. She's alive!'

"W-wah! A-Alex-san?! What wrong?" Asia shouted with a blush as Alex crawled over and embraced her tightly.

She suddenly felt Alex's body begin shaking, feeling worried as she believed something was wrong. Then she felt tears fall into her lap.

"*Sniffle!* *Sniffle!*" Alex was too embarrassed to let himself be seen crying, so he kept his head down as he cried.

"A-Alex-san, what's wrong?! If it's something I did, then I'm sorry, so please don't cry!" Asia didn't understand what was wrong but hastily apologized, assuming she was the fault of Alex's sorrow.

"*Sniffle!* You idiot! I'm just happy that you're alive, so quit apologizing!" Alex said. Although she was still confused by what was going on, Asia smiled as she patted his head to soothe him.

"I resurrected her because I wanted her power that can even heal Devils. Fufufu, Alex, from now on, you'll protect her. Since you will be her senior Devil." Rias said as she looked over at the two blondes with a warm smile.

Suddenly a red magic circle appears next to her ear. "Yes, Kiba, did you locate Neo?" Rias tapped the magic circle as she began talking to Kiba with everyone looking to see what was said.

"_Yes, Buchou, I found him, but the situation down here is very precarious. Can you come to my location?" _Kiba whispered with haste in his voice.

"Kiba, what's wrong is Neo injured?!" Rias shouted with worry in her voice, causing everyone to grow tense.

However, Kiba didn't answer Rias' question seemingly distracted by the events taking place at his current location.

"_Wait, is he going to...he is! I'm sorry, Buchou, I have to go! Until you find your way down here, I'll stall him as long as I can!"_ And with that, Kiba disengaged his communication circle.

"Akeno, it's time to move, Koneko, bring the Fallen Angel with us to use as a guide. Also, both of you prepare for combat." Rias immediately issued her orders as her servants complied.

""Yes Buchou!""

"W-wait! Buchou!" Alex shouted as he forced himself to stand with Asia supporting him up.

"Alex, stay here with the Sister and rest you're to beat up to come along." Rias commanded, but Alex shook his head in refusal.

"No way. Neo's my bro, and I'm the one that pulled him into this mess, so there's no way in hell I'm gonna lay back up here if something happened to him." Alex stood resolved by his words with a serious gaze.

"Haah. There's just no reasoning with you once you set your mind on something, is there?." Rias sighed as she waved her crimson hair. "Very well, you may accompany us, but remember, you're in charge of protecting the Sister, Alex."

"Yes, Buchou!" Alex grinned happily.

He then turned to Asia, who was supporting him up. "I'm sorry I'm having you do this when you must be confused about everything Aisa, but please help me!"

"Don't worry, Alex-san, after all, Neo-san is in trouble, so of course, I'll do anything I can to help!" Asia responded with a smile.

"Thank you." Alex thanked her as the group began descending the stairs to follow the signal of the area Kiba had contacted them from and using the captured Fallen Angel as a guide.

'Neo were coming, so please stay alive!' Alex prayed, hoping nothing had happened to his best friend.

* * *

**END**

**Hello everyone! Firstly, I want to apologize for taking so long to release this chapter, but unfortunately, things in real life happened and got in the way, but I'm okay, and I hope you all are doing well. Anyway, I was initially going to try and wrap both fights in this chapter, but I decided against it as I feel like doing so may overshadow either Alex's or Neo's moment, and I didn't want to do that. So instead, I'll conclude Neo's fight and the wrap up for this arc in the next chapter, so I don't feel rushed to finish his fight for one. And two so you guys can get a chapter you were long overdue. And now for my favorite part, responding to the reviews!:**

**kpop1392as: ****Greetings, and thank you for reviewing all my chapters. To answer your questions in order, so when you say Neo knows about his past, I assume you are comparing him to characters in other fanfictions that aren't aware of their history, background, or family. I find that many people do that trope, so I think it's a little stale at this point, I find having a character that has to face and embrace the past a lot more interesting than one who has to discover it, so that's my reason for that. I'm pleased you're enjoying Alex and Neo's bromance. Their relationship and characters reflect me and my best friend in real life, so it makes me happy people like it. I'm also glad that people like the comedy I try to put into my story. It isn't my strong suit, so knowing many people enjoy that door slam scene makes me happy. And finally, I decided to inject some tension into the Fallen Angel group to add some life and personality into the group. I always hate wasting and not fleshing out characters. On top of adding personality into Dohnaseek, Kalwarner, and Mittelt, I thought having a rocky dynamic could also make things interesting, so I'm glad you like it. As for the ninja thing, despite how they act, both Alex and Neo are nerds with one of them being nerdier than the other, so if there's ever a chance for them to good off or nerd out, you can bet they'll do it.**

**Evowizard25: ****Once again, I have to thank you for reviewing my chapters, and I'm happy you liked the combat and hope you enjoy the fights in this chapter as well. I also wanted to thank you for liking the direction I took Mittelt in this story, and reading your comment got me interested, so I ended up reading your fanfiction and found it to be a lot of fun. I believe you did an excellent job capturing the attitude Mittelt displayed in the anime really well and gave her a more tender side that was believable and likable. I also like Dohnaseek and Mittelt's relationship in your fanfiction and find it cool how their relationship in my fanfiction differs from yours, but both seem believable. Also, Theo is adorable and hilarious, so please keep up the excellent work!**

**MPrevilO: ****Greetings, and thank you for reviewing all my chapters. While Matsuda and Motohama, the Perverted Duo, Neo, and Alex, as explained in chapter 5, were a delinquent duo that stirred up trouble and picked fights with other delinquent groups. Alex and Neo will reluctantly get involved in Matsuda and Motohama's shenanigans from time to time. As for their reputation, Alex and Neo(mainly Neo) are regarded as worse than them because they get into fierce fights with anyone and have even caused trouble for the school. But more on that at a later date.**

**I think I'll wrap things up with this. I don't want to make it too long. I'm still open to discussion about Harmes, I have an idea about how I want them to be structured, but new opinions are always welcome. Anyway, I'm done, please remain safe, and I hope all of you are healthy.**

**As always, please continue to read and review**


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